292 Chapter 9 From ‘being’ with others, the Christian teacher must also ‘do’ something. Living together and cooperating is only possible when injustice cannot run rampant openly or under the surface. In addition, in this respect, the teacher must learn to interrupt and support where necessary. All forms of exclusion, which can be seen as deliberate fragmentation, must be denounced. Biblically, this is closely related to the call for justice. Where justice is not done to individuals or groups, no sense of belonging can emerge. When things occur in a Christian school that lead to children or groups being deliberately marginalised or excluded, Christian teachers have to act against such things, to stop injustice and sin. Sin is everything that goes against God’s law, further breaking down relationships and deepening the gaps between people, fellow human beings, creation and God. Sin prevents people from being truly human and achieving the purpose of being human. Social justice must be practiced in the whole of a socially safe classroom and the school as a mini-society, in attitudes towards people outside the school and in dealing with creation as a whole. This poses major questions for the Christian school. Where good, substantive reasons are found to adopt a closed admissions policy, the school will have to ask itself very consciously how it teaches students to deal respectfully with the large and highly diverse non-Christian majority in the country and how it shapes its responsibility towards a pluralistic and fragmented society. Likewise, adherence to the Bible and the preordained moral order, especially in developments that have led to the establishment of different norms and values in the whole of society, should be performed with care. At these points, tension can be experienced between faithfulness and openness. In such tension, it is important to ensure that one’s own contribution to the social and public debate is based on the conviction that the given moral order, which from a Christian perspective has everything to do with God’s Word and law, is good for the whole of society and that its denial will be disruptive. All of these elements, which belong to broad Christian citizenship education for a modern, fragmented society, can be subsumed within the subjectifying shalom idea articulated for higher education by Nicholas Wolterstorff. Christian teachers today must be trained for shalom, which means learning to be agents of shalom. This refers to the Biblical concept of shalom, which stands for wholeness, restoration of relationships, connectedness and peace. The shalom idea fits well with the many calls in the Bible for peaceful coexistence with others and for neighbourly love. Moreover, the shalom idea offers a direction for dealing with differences between students and with students who sometimes feel left out. At the same time, it also gives shape to
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