It is sometimes said that faith schools are bad for social cohesion, partly on the grounds that they are ill-suited to cultivating civic virtues such as tolerance, respect for others, and the ability and disposition to reason impartially about matters of common concern. But is this the case? And, if it is, why are faith schools less able to cultivate these virtues than schools without a religious character? Is it correct to assume that all faith schools are the same in this respect, or do we need to adopt a more discriminating approach; one that identifies the particular features of religious schools that are detrimental to cultivating civic virtues, but is sensitive to the possibility that these features may not be present in all such schools? Indeed, are faith schools so very different from schools that supposedly lack religious character? Might non-denominational schools also be permeated by religious values – perhaps as the legacy of a once dominant religious culture – even if they are not designated as having a religious character? And, even if faith schools are poorly suited to cultivating civic virtues, might public funding of them be justified for different reasons? Do they benefit their students in other important ways, for example, by providing a haven from religious hostility or stigmatisation? These are some of the questions addressed by authors from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds in this special issue. In the opening contribution, Ian MacMullen provides an analytical framework for evaluating the role of faith schools in preparing children for citizenship in multi-religious societies and for determining when schools of this kind should be permitted and receive public funding. He emphasises the diverse nature of faith schools, in particular, the way in which they may vary along three dimensions: how much of the school’s standard curriculum is independent of its religious identity, whether children are taught how to engage in secular public reasoning about matters of public concern and whether the school’s membership is diverse in a way that provides opportunities for encounters

中文翻译：

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信仰学校和公民美德

有时有人说信仰学校不利于社会凝聚力，部分原因是它们不适合培养公民美德，例如宽容、尊重他人以及对共同关心的问题进行公正推理的能力和性格。但情况是这样吗？如果是的话，为什么信仰学校比没有宗教性质的学校更不能培养这些美德？假设所有信仰学校在这方面都相同是否正确，或者我们是否需要采取更具歧视性的方法？一个确定了不利于培养公民美德的宗教学校的特定特征，但对这些特征可能并非在所有此类学校中都存在的可能性很敏感？确实，信仰学校与据称缺乏宗教性质的学校有如此大的不同吗？非宗派学校是否也可能被宗教价值观所渗透——也许是曾经占主导地位的宗教文化的遗产——即使它们没有被指定为具有宗教特征？而且，即使信仰学校不适合培养公民美德，是否可以出于不同的原因对其进行公共资助？他们是否在其他重要方面使学生受益，例如，提供一个远离宗教敌意或污名化的避风港？这些是本期特刊中来自不同学科背景的作者所解决的一些问题。在开篇贡献中，伊恩·麦克马伦 (Ian MacMullen) 提供了一个分析框架，用于评估信仰学校在为儿童准备成为多宗教社会的公民方面的作用，以及确定何时应该允许此类学校并获得公共资助。他强调信仰学校的多样性，特别是它们可能在三个方面有所不同的方式：学校的标准课程有多少与其宗教身份无关，孩子们是否被教导如何参与世俗的公共推理。公众关心的问题，以及学校的成员是否多样化以提供相遇的机会