Religion

Abstract

This chapter applies the results of Part I of this book to the question how much freedom there must be for religious world views in political liberal education. The role of public reason is particularly important in this context, as many political liberals appear to have a tendency to dismiss religious concerns about the effects of certain types of public education as based on comprehensive reasons and therefore not suitable for justificatory arguments about the design of educational institutions. Some public reason liberals, notably Kevin Vallier, have in contrast argued that public reason liberalism, properly understood, would not provide justifications of any sort of tax-funded public education at all and result in a fully privatised educational system. This chapters attempts to outline a political liberal position that acknowledges on the one hand the concerns of religious parents and attempts to accommodate them as much as possible, while on the other hand taking seriously the commitments to egalitarian justice and social coherence that are part of the political liberal project.