Open options education and children's religious upbringing: a critical review of current discussions taking place in the UK parliament

Ensuring open minds and open options education has recently been suggested by the UK House of Lords as a State role that can and should override parents’ decisions in relation to their children’s religious upbringing and education. Yet the language used in their Lordship’s debates risks failing to respect the nature and purpose of legally enshrined parental rights in this area and of being perceived as potential bias that rests on a set of assumptions difficult to adequately determine. Through reference to various writings and case law on the interplay between parents’ rights relating to religious upbringing and the State’s obligations to education, along with an in-depth analysis of the notion of indoctrination, this paper critiques their Lordships’ discussions over this complex and highly charged issue by highlighting some of the problems confronting their discussions.