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Time for religion? Liberalism, Haredi Jews, and state regulation of nonpublic schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2022

Nicholas Tampio Open the ORCID record for Nicholas Tampio [Opens in a new window]
Nicholas Tampio*
Affiliation:
Political Science, Fordham University, Faber Hall 665, 441 E. Fordham Rd., Bronx, NY 10458, USA
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: tampio@fordham.edu
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Abstract

Political theorists argue that justice requires treating people's time as having equal worth. In this article, I contend that justice sometimes requires making exceptions to uniform time rules. The article focuses on New York State's regulations for nonpublic schools and how they affect Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jewish day schools, or yeshivas. Dissatisfied yeshiva graduates, the state education department, and several liberal political theorists assert that the state should pressure yeshivas to dedicate more time to secular studies. Reconstructing Horace Kallen's argument against the melting pot conception of citizenship and for cultural pluralism, I maintain that liberal states should be generous toward non-liberal ways of life on condition that they do not systematically abuse children or pose a danger to public safety. A liberal education landscape may sustain many kinds of schooling, including ones that outsiders think waste time.

Keywords

EducationHaredi JewsHorace Kallenliberalismpluralism
Type
Article
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , June 2023 , pp. 248 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

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