Let us send all children to state primary schools, here's why

Now more than ever, our kids need to know and respect other cultures.

As cultural and religious differences increase in Australia, the experience of other countries, such as Britain and the Netherlands, suggests the possibility of "balkanisation" - the development of self-perpetuating groups deeply alienated from the larger society. We need responses that are more imaginative than increasing police powers or group hugs for clerics.

Despite the rhetoric of diversity and tolerance, religious differences threaten social cohesion in ways that are not true of diversity of racial and ethnic origin. Indeed, the overall success of multiculturalism owes much to the indifference most Australians, including most migrants, show towards religion.

The growth of fundamentalism - among Christians as much as among Muslims - makes it increasingly urgent to discuss that balance.

Where religion begins to inform everyday values and practices, and leads believers to impose their beliefs on others, there is an unavoidable tension with principles of democratic government. This is as true of Catholics who wish to criminalise abortion, or fundamentalist Protestants who want to ban sex education, as it is of Muslims who oppose the rights of women to be regarded as equal citizens.

Liberal democracy rests on certain agreed values that recognise that individuals deserve equal treatment in all areas of social life. This does not exclude committed believers from active participation in political life, but it does require them to acknowledge that particular religious beliefs not shared by the majority cannot determine their policies. John Kennedy was elected the first Catholic president of the United States in 1960 after his public acceptance of this position.

While Australia has no overarching statement of national principles equivalent to the United States Declaration of Independence or bill of rights, most Australians believe in a set of values, however inchoately expressed, that guarantee basic democratic rights and practices. There is a genuine national interest in preserving and strengthening these values. A society that tolerates the intolerant will find itself increasingly unable to preserve its freedoms.

If multiculturalism means the constant reshaping of our sense of who we are through a recognition of the diversity of the Australian population (not least the indigenous population), it is no threat to democracy or freedom. The growth of minority communities, which reject the basic rights of others and avoid any involvement in the larger community is, however, a real threat.

Nor should the onus for achieving social cohesion rest only with recently arrived migrant communities. As both federal and state governments have supported the rapid growth of private schools - Australia has one of the highest percentages of school students in religious schools of any Western country, and goes much further than does the United States in funding private schools - an increasing number of Australian children are being educated in ghettos, whether formed by wealth or by faith.

Muslim migrants who send their children to religious schools are merely following what is becoming a more and more common pattern of division in Australian society.

When immigrants, or religious communities, cluster together in certain suburbs, allowing them to keep their language and places of worship, this can strengthen a broader commitment to social diversity. But diversity becomes another word for social fragmentation when it produces active resistance to the values of the broader society, through withdrawing children from the school system for "home schooling" or discouraging women from higher education.

There is a strong case for requiring all children, whatever their religion or ethnicity, to undertake at least their primary education in a state school. Such a policy would be bitterly attacked as an infringement of parental choice and of the right to teach children according to particular religious doctrines. But parents do not have unlimited rights, and children have the right to be aware of other beliefs and to learn the civic values of their society. Such a policy has the merit of treating all Australians equally, rather than merely focusing on those who are most obviously different, which at this point means Muslims.

The benefits would be enormous. Not only would it mean young Australians could not grow up in isolation, whether this be the isolation of privileged grammar schools or small under-resourced religious schools. If all children were to spend their early years in the state school system, there would immediately be political pressures to ensure that system was as good as the best of the private schools.

Time could be allowed for religious classes in such a system, as long as students were also exposed to debates about the nature of religion and some understanding of religious conflicts. Bringing all children into the same classrooms could actually strengthen multiculturalism, which requires different communities to interact with each other.

Properly handled, it could create both greater social cohesion and greater awareness of diversity.