On January 1, 2026, the newly elected mayor of America’s most well-known city was sworn in and made his first speech as mayor. Many eyes across the nation were watching and listening as Zohran Mamdani made history of sorts, causing a media storm covered by conservatives and liberals alike. The media attention was not just because of New York City’s domestic and international fame, nor was it because of Mamdami’s name recognition. Instead, Mamdani drew attention through how he sees, interprets, and engages with the world, including the political promises he made to the people of New York. Essentially, Mamdami’s election represents a significant clash of worldviews.
While many Christian educators may be aware of the election results, we wonder whether adequate consideration has been given to the impact that this cultural moment should have on our classrooms and calling as Christian educators. Three implications are essential for consideration.
Implication 1: Christians Avoid Engaging with People with Alternative Worldviews
A recent study examining worldview formation practices among teachers in K–12 Christian schools revealed an important insight. The most common way teachers reported growing their own biblical worldview was through personal Bible reading and devotional study. While spiritual disciplines are vital, the practice that ranked last was intentional engagement with competing worldviews and alternative ideas.
In society, we’ve been conditioned to think that disagreement equates to argument. Those differing opinions make enemies, and it’s hateful to disagree with the masses. The result has been a quieting of the Christian values and virtues that our founding fathers understood to be essential for the American experiment as a republic.
Scripture offers a different model.
Just like Paul, our goal is not to wield truth as a weapon but to embody it through humility, courage, and love.
God calls us to treat all people as image-bearers of God while faithfully proclaiming what is true and good.
One of the clearest biblical illustrations appears in Acts 17, when Paul traveled to Athens. Rather than immediately condemning the Athenians’ idolatry, Paul first observed their culture. He walked through their city, studied their religious expressions, and listened carefully to their beliefs. After thoughtful reflection and prayer, Paul entered public dialogue in the marketplace and at the Areopagus. He respectfully acknowledged their spiritual curiosity, even referencing their altar to an “unknown god,” before presenting the Gospel in a way that addressed their existing questions and worldview assumptions.
How Do We Teach Students to Disagree with Grace and Truth?
Christian educators can intentionally model and teach this posture by:
- Teaching students to accurately articulate opposing viewpoints before critiquing them
- Encouraging charitable and active listening
- Practicing civil dialogue through structured classroom discussions
- Teaching students to distinguish between rejecting ideas and rejecting people
- Modeling humility by acknowledging areas where Christians must also grow in understanding and approach
- Anchoring discussions in Scripture while applying biblical wisdom to contemporary cultural issues
When students learn to engage rather than avoid disagreement, they develop intellectual courage alongside Christian compassion. This also helps to form their own worldview.
Implication 2: Explicit Worldview Study is Essential
Christian education must intentionally include the study of alternative belief systems. Exposure to competing ideas does not weaken faith when believers pair it with biblical truth and thoughtful reflection. In fact, it often strengthens conviction.
One helpful analogy is vaccination. The human immune system develops protection by being exposed to weakened or partial versions of harmful viruses. Similarly, students develop discernment when they are carefully introduced to alternative ideologies and taught to evaluate them through a biblical lens. Without exposure, students may become highly vulnerable to persuasive but unexamined cultural narratives.
If one listens carefully to Mamdani’s election speech through a worldview framework, at least two major ideological themes emerge that warrant thoughtful Christian analysis.
- Mamdami’s faith presents opportunities for important worldview conversations. Students must understand that Christianity and Islam present fundamentally different theological claims about God, salvation, authority, and the person of Jesus Christ.
Most students—and even a majority of Christian adults—lack sufficient knowledge of Islamic beliefs to articulate them clearly. Christian schools have a unique opportunity to cultivate religious literacy and a gospel-centered approach to engaged culture that is grounded in truth by finding opportunities to teach students to:
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- Understand core Islamic teachings accurately
- Identify key differences between Islam and Christianity
- Engage Muslim neighbors with respect, kindness, and gospel-centered love
2. In Mamdani’s statement, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” we see the persuasive rhetorical power often used in modern political discourse. The language frames collectivism as compassionate and individualism as cold and uncaring.
This illustrates the need for Christian educators to help students recognize how language can shape moral perception. As Natasha Crain frequently argues, cultural ideas often gain acceptance not through careful philosophical reasoning but through emotionally compelling narratives and slogans.
Students should learn to examine political and economic ideologies such as socialism, capitalism, individualism, and collectivism through biblical categories, such as:
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- Human nature and sin
- Personal responsibility and stewardship
- The role of government
- The dignity and value of the individual
- Biblical models of justice and compassion
These conversations are admittedly difficult and often avoided in Christian classrooms out of concern for political controversy.
However, silence does not create neutrality. Silence simply allows external cultural voices to dominate student formation.
When Christian educators engage with controversial topics through biblical wisdom, intellectual rigor, and pastoral care, students learn to faithfully navigate complex cultural conversations.
Implication 3: We Must Combat Cognitive Apathy
Although most students did not participate in New York City’s mayoral election, they will soon participate in civic decision-making processes in their own communities. The cultural narratives shaping public policy will inevitably influence their thinking, values, and identity.
Modern cultural messaging often relies on what commentator Allie Beth Stuckey describes as toxic empathy—a form of emotional persuasion that prioritizes immediate feelings over long-term truth, moral clarity, and human flourishing. While compassion is deeply biblical, compassion detached from truth can ultimately harm the individuals it seeks to help.
This cultural reality highlights the urgency of worldview formation in Christian education. Students must develop the ability to think critically, analyze arguments carefully, and evaluate cultural claims through a biblical understanding of human nature, justice, and redemption.
Cognitive apathy—the passive acceptance of ideas without thoughtful evaluation—poses a significant threat to spiritual and intellectual maturity.
Christian educators combat cognitive apathy by:
- Teaching students to ask deeper worldview questions
- Encouraging evidence-based reasoning and biblical evaluation
- Requiring students to analyze primary sources rather than relying solely on summaries
- Creating classroom environments that reward thoughtful questioning
- Connecting worldview ideas to real-life cultural issues students encounter daily
- Modeling curiosity and intellectual tenacity by sharing stories about what they’re grappling with and learning
When students develop intellectual curiosity alongside spiritual discernment, they are better prepared to live faithfully in a complex cultural landscape.
By Dr. Maggie Pope