Religious Rights and Québec's Ethics and Religious Culture Course.

Until very recently, the “orthodox” liberal view had assumed that the right to the profession and practice of one's own religious values encompassed the right to instil particular religious values in one's children. This view has been challenged by sustained analysis of the role of children within liberal theory, given the basic tenet of the equal moral worth of persons. This strand of liberal thought questions the extent to which parental rights to direct children's upbringing can include a right to form children's basic value sets. With this challenge comes a stronger basis from which to also challenge the idea that parents may legitimately oppose certain aspects of the state-mandated curriculum on the basis that such education may impinge on the values they wish to instil in their children. This paper will examine the controversy surrounding Québec's “Ethics and Religious Culture” course within a framework that seeks to put the interest of children first, as well as how the religious rights of parents and children might be understood in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]