Religious Liberty and Education

This important new book brilliantly illuminates the intersection between education and religious liberty, and shows just why what happens there is crucial for the future of our free society. -- Yuval Levin, editor of National Affairs
In this intriguing volume, Jason Bedrick, Jay Greene, and Matt Lee wrestle with the tensions that govern the relationship between faith and schooling. In an era when religious free exercise has become a lightning rod in areas ranging from health care to cake decoration, their careful exploration of whether and how the state should regulate religious schooling is both timely and clarifying. -- Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute
This is an insightful, evenhanded treatment of these schools and their regulation that serves as a powerful counterweight to policy-makers’ unconsidered assumptions of normative education. The state’s paternalistic instinct is rarely tempered by a considered examination of law, ethics, morality, or religious freedom, something this book provides. The result is as important for our understanding of the ultimate aims of education and the state’s role in regulating it as it is for its commentary on this particular case alone. -- Moshe Krakowski, director, Azrieli Masters Program
Religious Liberty & Education makes a seemingly local and parochial case the occasion for a brilliant and indispensable study of public policy on education in America: The controversy over Haredi yeshivas has implications far beyond the borders of Borough Park or Crown Heights. -- Ruth Wisse, Professor Emerita, Harvard University
New York state education officials’ initial response to the Yeshiva controversy represents the worst of government overreach into private and religious education. The Catholic Church recognizes parents as the first educators of their children and thus they maintain the right to choose a school according to their conscience. Religious leaders’ fears of government intrusion into what and how we teach in our schools are no longer hypothetical. This wide-ranging compilation of papers represents diverse religious perspectives and utilizes experts from a wide range of professional backgrounds to reaffirm the importance of religious freedom for families and the religious institutions where they choose to educate their children. Parents, religious leaders and policy leaders, who value religious freedom, would be well-advised to read this book as a means of preparing for the many challenges to come. -- Jennifer Daniels, Associate Director for Public Policy, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Secretariat of Catholic Education