For the past 18 years I have been the religion teacher at Canterbury School. Canterbury School is an independent college preparatory school for preschool through 12th grade. The school’s philosophy states, “We believe that students should develop a strong and broad base of knowledge, a genuine love for and appreciation of the challenges of learning and an understanding of the implications of Christian principles in their daily lives." The wording of Christian principles instead of Christian faith is intentional so that students off all faiths will be comfortable attending Canterbury School. The school is fortunate to have many different faiths represented in the student body.
Before I started working at Canterbury School my husband and I decided to send our oldest son to the school. I remember so clearly visiting the school and reading about the various curricula. But the area we as parents paid the most attention to was the religion curriculum. We wanted to know what was being taught, who was teaching it, and how it was being taught. We weren’t interested in meeting the music teacher or the PE teacher but we were interested in meeting the religion teacher. And we weren’t wondering if she was going 'to do good’ for our child, like we would have wondered about the other teachers. We wanted to know she was not going 'to do any harm'. Our faith was important to us and so it was important to know what our child was learning. We did meet the religion teacher and we decided she would not be harming the faith and beliefs we as parents desired to instill in our son.
The next year I became that religion teacher. Now those parents whose faith was important to them would be asking the same question that I had asked the year before. They would not be wondering what ‘good’ I would be doing for their child. Instead they would be asking me, will I 'do harm' to their child? I understood the importance of the question. This was the beginning of my interfaith journey.
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.
