Author: Rebecca Cooper, SSSAS Early Saints-Grade 12 Religion Department Chair & Middle School Religion Teacher
Published in MAESA monthly newsletter, February 2019
During my childhood, a beautiful, classically designed mosque was built in my hometown in northwest Ohio. Its architecture looked striking amid the corn fields and community soccer fields that surrounded it. When I was in high school, my father, an Episcopal priest, arranged for the two of us to visit the mosque. I remember choosing my headscarf carefully, feeling curious about the division of gender within the worship space, and appreciating the hospitality of the people. When I learned in 2012 that a truck driver from Indiana had set fire to the prayer hall causing millions of dollars worth of damage, my heart was broken. The community provided tangible support for the members of the mosque, but the emotional damage wrought by the violation of this sacred space was difficult to heal. My early positive exposure to Islam contrasted with the cruel realities of religious bigotry are sources of inspiration for my work.
I have been fortunate to design and teach two courses in our Middle School – a sixth-grade course on Genesis and a seventh-grade Religions of the World course. Both courses afford me the opportunity to model Christian hospitality, support the faith formation of my students, and increase empathy and understanding of religious differences. Over the years, I have witnessed the increasing diversity of our student body and have been especially sensitive to our growing religious diversity. For example, over the last 20 years, the percentage of our students who are Episcopalian has decreased 15% and the percentage of students with no religious preference has increased by 8%. These changing demographics provide an opportunity for us to examine how our school honors our Episcopal identity while at the same time actively working to support and nourish our students who are non-Christian or practice no faith.
One of the highlights of my Religions of the World course is our annual field trip to three local houses of worship. These visits are important to learn from practitioners within faith traditions such as Islam, Sikhi, Hinduism, and Judaism and to increase understanding. In addition, the timing of this field trip during the middle school years is valuable. My students are beginning to discern their religious identities more clearly through participation or observance of rites of passages such as Confirmation or Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies and by exploring faith traditions different from their own. Modeling respect for the religious beliefs of others as well as fostering respective discourse are two vital objectives of the field trip and my course on the whole.
In addition to teaching religion, I also work with our chaplain to organize and lead our weekly chapel services. Our norm is a morning prayer service, but three times a year we celebrate the Eucharist. It is during the Eucharist services that I am keenly aware of the members of our community who are not Episcopalian and/or Christian. I worry about how they are feeling and wonder about their perceptions of this sacred ritual. Are we doing enough to explain our traditions and to make ALL feel welcome at the table even when they do not receive? On at least one occasion, I can answer affirmatively to this question. During a Eucharist service last year, I was helping to distribute the bread. In my line, I had one of our Muslim students and one of our Jewish students who had come forward to receive a blessing. I felt privileged and moved to say a prayer with each of these young men. They could have remained in their seats along with others who were not receiving, but instead, they came forward. At that moment, I felt reassured that our school was living out its mission.
This year, more than any other, I am convinced that our mission must go beyond Christian hospitality. It is not enough to make non-Christians/Episcopalians feel welcome and included at the table. We must actively teach religious literacy and build the skills of respectful dialogue needed for our complex and changing world. Current events have too often necessitated that I let go of my lesson plan or recreate my lesson plan to give space and time for students to examine difficult topics such as racism, xenophobia, Anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia. Teaching in an Episcopal school enables me to live out my Baptismal covenant, to model curiosity and compassion, and to provide opportunities for my students to analyze and reflect on times when our society falls short of honoring the dignity of every human being. I am reminded of the importance of this work every time I return to my childhood home and see the mosque with its two minarets still firmly rooted in the community.