15/365 Faith under fire

While in high school, I had a very interesting teacher. The kind of teacher that most students love - outgoing, relaxed, slightly off beat. He was the kooky one, the weird one, but the cool one. I had no issue with him - other than the insane amounts of homework he assigned and never took the time to read. 

One day, he began a debate in class about a Christian music group. He knew I attended church from previous conversations, so he asked my input on it. I really didn't have an opinion. I was vaguely aware of the group, but didn't own any of their albums. I don't recall exactly what the purpose of his debate was, but it concerned the album sales of this one group. He was upset about the popularity of their album - something about it being a tool to control people. He argued that since their album was very evangelical and the media was covering it's sales, then there was a violation of separation of church and state. This was all being discussed during class time, by the way.

He continued to ask me to defend the music group and I continued to not have an opinion. He accused me of being evasive and I insisted that I wasn't. I told him that I believed everyone has the right to choose what kind of music to listen to. As for the media choices - I had no input over that. 

Apparently that wasn't a good answer. 

I was called a few choice names and told to leave the class and go to the principals office. 

So I did, but I was very confused. I told my issues and moved on. 

This was an early morning class, so by the next period, everyone was talking about it. Apparently the rumor going around was that I stood up to this teacher and fought for my faith.

I don't really recall it going down like that - but okay.....

By the end of the day, this teacher sent for me and requested that I come into an afternoon class. I did, mostly because I had no choice.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect -  but I was surprised. What happened shocked me - he admitted to being adversarial and confrontational. He then apologized to me in front of this class. 

SHOCK!


I realized that day - that living in faith often has very little to do with what you say and everything to do with how you live. I never fought with him, but I demonstrated a persona that he couldn't argue with.