ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relative rights of parents, children, and the State in regard to religious upbringing. Children have a right to an education that equips them to flourish in a liberal, pluralist, democratic society, which is also a postindustrial, information-driven society. A problem has been raised in regard to comprehensive liberalism’s requirement for individuals to stand aside from their beliefs and evaluate them in an open and flexible way. Mark Halstead follows Rawls in drawing the distinction between comprehensive and political liberalism, requiring only political liberalism as a condition for participation in a liberal state. Education therefore has a vital role to play in pluralist societies in developing commitment to the values of positive tolerance as an essential aspect of comprehensive liberalism. S. Macedo states the case strongly for limiting the educational rights of non-liberal communities. The philosophy of comprehensive liberalism provides the underlying rationale for such an interpretation.
