ABSTRACT
The problem of how the christian religion can be handled in schools without negating democratic and educational values can be articulated as the problem any democracy faces when reflecting on how its educational institutions can make curricular provisions in the interests of the general public rather than a section of that public. Any attempt by educational institutions to transmit a sectional view as if it were the only publicly defensible one would contradict the value a democracy ascribes to individual judgement and responsibility. In restricting students’ opportunities for enlarging their awareness and understanding of alternatives, and consequently in restricting their capacity to make autonomous and responsible judgments, a preference is implied which contradicts educational values in a democracy. In a pluralistic democracy educational values demand that judgments about a controversial conception of the human situation should be based on an understanding of the alternatives that its acceptance would rule out.
