Formation of Religious Tolerance Among Undergraduates in the Multireligious Environment of University

There is much evidence that suggests that at the present stage of the development of mankind, tolerance is becoming of much importance, since it is one of the possible ways to overcome social tension and the necessary condition for ensuring peace, security, sustainable social and economic development, building human relations on the principles of equality, mutual understanding, and reciprocal respect. Tolerance is fast becoming the point of much importance for modern world and has always been a point of interest for a wide range of various Social sciences. Tolerance is the subject of political discussions aimed at overcoming world crises and preventing the horrors of ethno-religious conflicts. However, the concept and the problem of tolerance, despite a wide aura of application and frequency of its use in public speeches and media materials, remain open to sociologists, political scientists, teachers and psychologists. In the new global age, the teaching of tolerance is a strategic task of the 21st century education. A primary concern of the paper is our attempt to systematize the factors that influence the formation and development of religious tolerance not only as a declared value, but also as a personal quality. Empirical research has shown that there is an important group of factors determining religious tolerance. The vital aspects are such personal traits as self-awareness and self-identity. We see promising areas of further practical application of the scientific research. In our future studies, we intend to determine possibility of using the results of this paper for a model of religious tolerance formation among university students in the process of liberal arts training.