Government Schools, Parental Rights, and the Perversion of Catholic Morality

Abstract

Almost 100 years ago the US Supreme Court opined that children are “not mere creatures of the state”, noting that parents should be the final arbiter of what is best for each child in the vast majority of cases. Yet this principle falls strangely short in protecting the rights of parents when addressing concerns surrounding certain forms of sexuality education in public school. This article argues that the sex education by necessity is freighted with moral meaning and to many parents that meaning has religious significance. I attempt to persuade the reader that because of the religious dimensions of our understanding of human sexuality a robust conception of religious liberty requires public schools to allow parental control over the sex education of children and that doing so poses little or no threat to legitimate state interests in education, health and public safety.

Keywords: law and education, private schools, parental rights, human sexuality, moral education