ABSTRACT
How should we think in a liberal-democratic and culturally pluralist society about the place of spirituality and spiritual education in statefunded schooling? On the face of it, a common conception of spiritual education for any such context would seem to presuppose some cultural or political consensus on spiritual and moral values. Indeed, the kind of liberal philosophical reflection that has played a large role in the development of British and other western political and public institutions since the Enlightenment suggests that any such proposal would have to avoid particular cultural or religious bias. However, the basic trouble with this idea, as contemporary debates in social theory between liberals and communitarians well demonstrate, is that it is doubtful whether any philosophical reflection is culturally or normatively non-partisan.
