The Liberal State's Response to Religious Visions of Education

Abstract

This article responds to several commentators on my work relating to religious schooling. I highlight the inclination of scholarly defenders of religious schooling to insist that religious schooling need not be, and perhaps generally is not, illiberal, and I ask on what basis they themselves valorize this contestable form of child rearing. I also highlight the tendency of defenders of religious schooling to refrain from offering any solution to the problem, which they sometimes acknowledge, that some religious schools clearly are illiberal and therefore arguably harm children developmentally.

Keywords: religious schools, First Amendment, indoctrination, liberal education