KIEV, Aug. 31 - Some public schools in the Ukrainian capital will begin teaching Christian ethics this year in an experimental program aimed at reinforcing Ukraine??™s 1,000-year-old Christian heritage, the Associated Press reported Thursday citing city officials.

The course - titled Christian Ethics in Ukrainian Culture: The Path of Good - raised some concern among Kiev's minority Jewish population, and among state education officials, who called its introduction premature.

The class for 6-year-old students will be launched in 100 of Kiev's 527 schools, reaching about 6,000 pupils. Any parent can choose to have a child opt out of the lessons. Next year, city officials aim to have the lessons reach all of the capital's 21,100 first year students.

Ukraine, which is predominantly Orthodox Christian, has flirted before with the idea of introducing a religion-based ethics class, but earlier plans ran into opposition from the country's Jews and Muslims. This latest project also sparked some concerns, but the Kyiv city administration - headed by a mayor who once sent Bibles to every Ukrainian lawmaker suggesting they use it as a guide - has vowed to go ahead.

"There is a path of good and a path of evil, and wherever God acts, the devil also appears," Deputy Mayor Vitaliy Zhuravsky said. "Whoever opposes introducing Christian ethics - for me, that's devilry."

Ilya Levitas, president of Jewish Council of Ukraine, called it a "very one-sided approach." He noted that Ukraine has numerous other religions, including Jews and Muslims, and also questioned whether the class would have any impact. "If you want to foster belief, you should take children to a church," he said.

Kiev officials said the class, built around a lesson book written by an Orthodox priest, could help give students a moral base. The titles of the lessons include "The Church is God's Home" and "Resurrection: Victory of Good over Evil." There also are lessons focused on Ukrainian cultural figures and Ukrainian history.

"The goal is to foster moral behavior, spiritual values and a love for the homeland," said Father Bohdan Ogulchansky, author of the lesson book.

Ukraine's Education Minister Stanislav Nikolayenko suggested earlier this week that Kiev's city government should hold off on the lessons, warning that "ill-prepared activity could destroy a good idea." He also questioned whether it was right to focus on 6-year-olds, suggesting the lessons instead should be focused on 10- and 11-year-olds because they would understand better.

Zhuravsky disagreed. "We need to act now," he said, noting the growing problems of drug abuse and alcoholism among Ukrainian youth. He said that, despite the Education Ministry's protests, the city administration was prepared to go-ahead, noting it was the city administration that funded the capital's schools.

"Ukraine is a Christian nation, and Christian ethics are part of our culture," he said.

Some 97% of Ukraine's registered religious communities are Christian, about half of them Orthodox. Protestant churches have a small presence but have been attracting worshippers rapidly. Jews make up about 1 percent of the population. (ap/ez)