ABSTRACT
T S Eliot's thoughts about the teaching of religion in schools emerge from his aspirations for society. In The Idea of a Christian Society Eliot's sole concern was with fleshing out the contours of his ideal Christian society. Education for everyone in what he was assuming would be a religiously homogeneous society was to be directed by a Christian philosophy of life. The position of the Christian churches in Britain and continental Europe is now strikingly weaker than it was at any point during Eliot's lifetime. The 'British values' initiative highlights Eliot's warning that, once the religious anchor of education is removed, all sorts of substitutes may well emerge. One of these is certainly the notion of promoting, through education, universal 'respect' for other faiths and cultures. The alternative – denying access to state funding for denominational schools run by faith groups not wholly and demonstrably committed to the values of liberal democracy – has arguments in its favour.
