ABSTRACT
In Chapter Two, I provided a discussion of the value of autonomy within liberal democratic societies, as well as the relationship between autonomy and cultural membership. I also examined the relationship between religion and becoming autonomous. Finally, I examined group membership and autonomy, with particular attention to Kymlicka’s work on multiculturalism and religious identification, as well as a conception of autonomy compatible with religious belonging. I now turn the discussion to the public school as a ‘theatre’ of sorts, where many if not all of the dynamics addressed in the first chapter play out. The chapter is organized into three basic sections. In the first section, I examine the governance of religion within United States public schools from a legal perspective, with particular attention to key court cases that have greatly shaped the legal and policy environment concerning church-state relations in the schools. The focus here is particularly on the balance between individual rights on the one hand, and state authority on the other. In the U.S. public school context, we see this dynamic most prominently at play with the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The balance between individual rights and state authority also proves fruitful in examining religion and public school law and policy as practiced by democratic states in international contexts. I do this in the second section of the chapter. Here I devote a significant amount of space to describing a study I conducted with my colleague Hyeyoung Bang on the topic of migration and public school policies on religion across 20 Western Democracies. In the chapter’s final section (Discussion and Way Forward), I provide an analysis of the legal and policy environments within both the U.S. as well as the international contexts, with attention to the essential themes addressed in Chapter Two. Herein I examine questions fundamental toward understanding the educational worlds that many migrant students find themselves within: What license do school laws and policies concerning church-state relations afford religion with respect to the development of autonomy and choice-making? And to what extent do school laws and policies shape the educational contexts within which students may critically assess their 40own religious backgrounds, as well as learn of other religious traditions? Addressing these questions furthers our understanding of the underpinnings of reasonable recognition and accommodation of migrant religions in the schools.
