Ideology and educational policy: An analysis of the religious right

This article argues that the characterization of the Religious Right as irr ational does damage to progressive educational policy because it obscures t he Religious Right's effectiveness in influencing educational policy and is counter productive for resistance practices. The authors discuss briefly t he common views of the Religious Right and critique those views on the basi s of their own claims. They suggest an alternative conceptualization of the Religious Right, one that rejects the rational/irrational dichotomy of the prevailing views. They argue that the imperatives of the Religious Right a re guaranteed by the prevailing ideology of the Christian, liberal state. T he authors contend that counteracting the Religious Right requires a recogn ition of this prevailing ideology and the discursive practices that maintai n it.