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

The First Amendments free-exercise clause includes the right of parents to transmit their faith to their children. Although the Supreme Court, in general, has been solicitous of parental rights, in one area of education the courts evidence a striking disregard of those rightsthe area of human sexuality. Focusing on cases involving sex education in public schools, this article first reviews the history and current legal status of such education, including a summary of cases involving challenges to these courses or their material. It then argues 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.Teresa S. Collett, "Government Schools, Parental Rights, and the Perversion of Catholic Morality," Journal of Markets & Morality 21, no. 1 (Spring 2018): 95-11