Religious Education, Critical Thinking, Rational Autonomy, and the Child's Right to an Open Future

This article maintains that the teaching of religion in state-funded schools in liberal democracies, especially in Western Europe, is premised on the need for the child to acquire critical, rational, and cognitive understanding of religion rather than seeking to nurture her or him in a specific faith tradition. Drawing on one hypothetical religious education classroom scenario, this article contends that the deployment of epistemic egalitarianism and epistemic neutrality in the relativistic, pluralistic, and equitable presentation of competing claims arguably facilitates critical thinking, rational autonomy, and the child's right to an open future. It, therefore, exemplifies how the teaching of religion in state-funded schools in liberal democracies could engender the actualization of the liberal aims of education articulated in educational theory and philosophy.