Connecting at the Heart

During my first several years of working as the religion teacher I had a difficult time understanding my context. We were a school based on Christian principles not Christian faith. I was constantly asking myself, what did that mean for me as the religion teacher? The school’s religion curriculum used the Bible as a textbook, we celebrated Christmas and Easter and yet there were students from many different religions at the school. I often felt like I was walking on a fence trying to balance the school’s curriculum with the many different faiths that were represented at our school. Attending the school at that time were Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, Mormons and Earth traditions. I was not aware of any Muslims at the school even though there were many Muslim families living in the community.

Ten years ago a Muslim family moved to Fort Wayne and they wanted to send their oldest, who was going to go into kindergarten, to Canterbury School because of its strong academic reputation. So as parents they came to see me.  They weren’t asking the question, ‘what good are you going to do for my child?’ they wanted to know if I was going to harm their child. The exact same questions my husband and I had asked seven years earlier.  I understood that this conversation was important.  When the parents came to see me I started the conversation by talking about understanding their fear. I wanted them to know that even though I am Christian and they are Muslim, I too had faced that same fear when we sent our son to Canterbury School. We immediately connected as humans, as parents. We connected as parents who valued and tried to raise our children in the faith and belief system that we followed.  Then I went through the curriculum showing exactly what was taught and how it was taught.  This was my first understanding of the importance of interfaith dialogue to connect with others in what we have in common. We both were parents trying to raise our child in the manner we believed to be important. They did not ask me to change and I did not ask them to change.

This family has become dear friends to my husband and me. They did enroll their son in our school and they participated in my first interfaith group. They have taught me so much. They have helped me see that I do not need to feel like I am walking on a fence. Instead my own faith is deepened while I’m making new friends and learning about other faiths.