School is the time to open your mind

As a youthful evangelical in Snohomish County, I too saw my high school as a mission field. (“Taking the opportunity to talk,” Nov. 17 Faith &Spiritual Life section.) Telling my fellow students, and teachers, about my faith was all I could think about. The Bible always sat on top of all my schoolbooks and saving a soul was far more critical than opening a mind.

I knew many youth pastors like Jeff Moore at Turning Point and, like him, they encouraged me to be a missionary in my public school. My own point of turning came a few years later while at Seattle Pacific University. I began to learn the value of listening, discovering that there are many different expressions of faith and many more scriptures than the Bible. I went on to become an ordained minister and served as a chaplain for many years, taking every opportunity to listen and learn.

My hope is that many of these young minds will discover, earlier than I did, that schools are for learning to think in a wider, more balanced way about this diverse world we share with a wonderful variety of people. After all, didn’t the young rabbi himself once say that we ought to love the Creator with our mind as well as our heart, soul and strength? And here’s a thought for the school principals, teachers, parents and youth pastors, too: What will you do when local imams, rabbis, gurus and priestesses send their young missionaries with their “all-access passports” into your schools? Would that be a good reminder of the value of American pluralistic public education?

Chris Highland

Langley