Religious Parents, Secular Schools

A Liberal Defense of an Illiberal Education

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6401931
AutoresShelley Burtt (autor de correspondencia)
Año1994
Volumen56
Número1
Páginas51-70
Fecha de publicación1994-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Review of Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0034670500049500
OpenAlexW2157596566
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas21
Referencias citadas14

How far ought good liberals to go in accommodating parents with religious objections to the public school curriculum? This article argues that liberal democratic ideals are best honored when we allow parents to structure their children's education in ways compatible with their religious beliefs. Both liberal and democratic theorists, as well as a number of recent judicial decisions, are criticized for opposing such accommodation and for arguing their case against religious parents on a distorted characterization of religious parents' goals. An account of religious parents' concerns that avoids privileging a secular worldview is presented and this account is used to argue for the political benefits of a broad “principle of parental deference.” In conclusion, a new account of where public schools ought properly to draw the line, detailing three exceptional cases in which parental religious concerns oughtnotto be accommodated, is offered

Accommodation · Deference · Democracy · Establishment Clause · First amendment · Liberalism · Political science · Politics · Religious education · Secular education · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Psychology · Religious Education and Schools · Religious Freedom and Discrimination