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Should the State Fund Religious Schools?
Author(s) -
MERRY MICHAEL S.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of applied philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.339
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5930
pISSN - 0264-3758
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5930.2007.00380.x
Subject(s) - polity , state (computer science) , obligation , context (archaeology) , political science , religious education , public administration , sociology , quality (philosophy) , public relations , law , politics , epistemology , paleontology , algorithm , computer science , biology , philosophy
In this article, I make a philosophical case for the state to fund religious schools. Ultimately, I shall argue that the state has an obligation to fund and provide oversight of all schools irrespective of their religious or non‐religious character. The education of children is in the public interest and therefore the state must assume its responsibility to its future citizens to ensure that they receive a quality education. Still, while both religious schools and the polity have much to be gained from direct funding, I will show that parents and administrators of these schools may have reasons to be diffident toward the state and its hypothetical interference. While the focus of the paper is primarily on the American educational context, the philosophical questions related to state funding and oversight of religious schools transcend any one national context.