In both Australia and my native UK faith schools are booming as a direct result of government policy. These schools are popular. British parents have been known to fake religious commitment to get their child into the right school. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has just confirmed that Australian parents are also abandoning public education in favour of the new, government-subsidised faith schools. This rapid rise in religious schooling has, of course, been accompanied by concerns, not least of which is that faith schools can be deeply socially divisive. While I share that worry, my greatest concern is that that the smoke generated by the battle over whether religious schools are a good idea has obscured a more fundamental question: a question about the kind of religious education schools offer. To what extent should schools be allowed to encourage deference to authority when it comes to moral and religious matters? To what extent should they be able to suppress independent, critical thought? -- Stephen Law, Philosopher Quote from Amazon.com review of The War for Children's Minds: Liberal Values and Why We Should Defend Them Stephen Law has written a very informative book on the importance of liberal education for children. He argues persuasively that liberalism does NOT entail absolute moral relativism or the education of children without behavioral standards.