UPDATE: CNN has the same story as USA Today, but with more reference to the academic discussion and the psychology of myth perpetuation. Evangelicals who are angry at me for posting this should just skip it.
Here’s a detailed review of a book by Dave Cullen that is looking at the law enforcement information.
“These are not ordinary kids who were bullied into retaliation,” psychologist Peter Langman writes in his new book, Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters. “These are not ordinary kids who played too many video games. These are not ordinary kids who just wanted to be famous. These are simply not ordinary kids. These are kids with serious psychological problems.” -Peter Langman
The Columbine high school massacre has, unfortunately, been a professional interest for me. Part of my job involves doing risk assessments of high school students applying to our program, so understanding the dynamics of school violence is a necessary preparation.
As a Christian, I’ve had a different kind of interest in Columbine. The shootings have become part of conservative evangelical culture war mythology. Some of the dead are considered martyrs. Books have been written. Speaking tours traveled through churches and Christian media. The pundits and cultural critics have used Columbine as exhibit A for everything that was wrong with America. Here, we were told, was the results of America’s surrender to secularism and proof that we needed everything from the closure of public schools to the Ten Commandments in every classroom. (Think what a difference seeing “Thou Shalt Not Kill” would make.)
Because many of the Columbine victims were related to churches in the area, evangelicals took Columbine personally. Part of the mythology was that Christians were targeted. Churches struggled with how to respond. Here was the problem of evil on the big stage. What did the church have to say?
Ten years have passed, and USA Today does a retrospective on what we really know about Columbine. It’s essential reading for thoughtful evangelicals. (All of this information has been coming out through various books and sources, but this is a review of the total picture.)
Much of what we heard and much of what we as evangelicals told ourselves was simply not true.
Harris was a dangerously disturbed, brilliantly egomaniacal psych case. Klebold was a follower, depressed and suicidal.
Their families were normal. Where they were aware of problems, they tried to respond. They made mistakes, but the boys were exceptionally deceptive.
The only “targets” were kids who had already graduated.
The plan was to detonate a massive amount of bombs, collapsing the school and killing hundreds. None of the bombs worked.
No Christians were specially targeted for their faith. No one confessed belief in God and died as a result. The plan was to kill a whole school. The fantasy was terror on a large scale. Terror and legend were the motives.
The perceived snubs and mistreatment were minor. Harris and Klebold were, themselves, perpetrators of bullying and mistreatment of other students and were proud of it.
There is no video game connection, no occult connection, no atheism connection. Not even a particularly stereotypical pair of high school “troubled loners.”
It was a collision of two people whose particular issues and problems created the perfect chemistry for a mutual fantasy of violence.
There are issues for Christians in Columbine. Issues like acknowledging and admitting mental illness. Insisting on competent law enforcement. Secure schools. Professional assessment of at risk students. Gun control. Help for struggling families. Awareness of the dynamics and progression of violence.
Columbine is not about, and never was about, Christian persecution or any of the other culture war mythology we were told by leaders ready to use this tragedy to advance their own agendas and organizations.
Columbine is about living in the real world, not in the evangelical fantasy world. It is about being educated, aware and fully engaged in the real problems of our communities instead of distracted in our own versions of what’s wrong with the world. It is a call to do what we can, and to help families, teachers and public schools be the best they can be.
Columbine is about being compassionate, prayer and useful for Jesus, not being know-it-all opportunists. For us, it’s about doing a real assessment of how we as evangelicals accumulate and use information. Can we trust the headline-grabbing media, or even our own cultural critics, to tell us the truth? Can we be patient? (I’m the worst at this.) At a deeper level, do we want the real truth if it doesn’t fit into our pre-existing categories and answers?
The Internet Monk Archives 
Did you read the first paragraph?
All sources are biased. Including the FBI report, this blog and your comment. And all have an agenda.
“Were you truly objective?” This is like “Are you really saved?”
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iMonk –
did you read the FBI report or simply the USA Today article – which actually relies very little on the FBI report.
If you simply read the article (and not the full report) you are doing what you accuse others of doing – using biased sources of information that happen to support your worldview.
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For more on Columbine and school safety, check out http://detentionslip.org . It’s the #1 source for crazy headlines in education.
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I fail to see the difference in the paranoia of “All liberal MSM stories are full of lies.” and this “I hear this same song about EVERY evangelical manipulation and lie. Warnke. Drilling Into Hell. The woman who talked to the murderer about Purpose Driven Life (after doing drugs with him.) All the Financial scandals. All the lies about healing. All the paranoia about Obama being a Muslim. I have a low tolerance for conspiracy theorists and I don’t apologize for it. I consider most Culture war media to be propaganda….ms”
Two sides of the same tinfoil hat.
It was CBS News (that well known evangelical media outlet) that reported that “one of the gunmen, after having first shot Rachel in her leg, asked the wounded girl if she still believed in God, and that she had simply answered “You know I do”, provoking a second, fatal shot to her head at point-blank range.” “The FBI later concluded that this interaction did not take place. Despite the controversy surrounding this issue, Rachel’s parents contend in their book, Rachel’s Tears: the Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, that their daughter was targeted by the killers and died as a martyr for her Christian faith, based on videotapes made by the teenage perpetrators in which they are said to mock Rachel for her beliefs.”
So who is right? CBS? Rachel’s parents? Or the FBI? Wikipedia? Valeen Schnurr? Emily Wyant? Craig Scott? Rocky Mountain News? Misty Benall? Internetmonk?
They all are. They are using different pieces of information and using a different set of criteria for determing truth.
One can hardly blame the evangelical community for taking at face value the words of the parents of Rachel Scott and Cassie Bernall and their beliefs to the present day. The fact that many evangelicals haven’t read the evidence to the contrary is not a conspirancy and cynical attempt at perpetuating a myth. It’s just a fact that most people moved on with their lives. They remember the “facts” as they existed in the months after April 20, 1999. “Facts” which were reported by mainstream media and published in books written by the parents.
To insinuate that Darrell Scott equals Mike Warnke is damnably cynical.
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So many words written here and I have yet to see all of these words:
Isaiah Shoels
Matt Kechter
Steve Curnow
Corey DePooter
Kelly Fleming
Daniel Mauser
Daniel Rohrbough
John Tomlin
Kyle Velasquez
Lauren Townsend
William “Dave” Sanders
Rachel Scott
Cassie Rene Bernall
Eric Harris
Dylan Klebold
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In the space of five days, we honor Jackie Robinson’s finally breaking into the major leagues and we also memorialize Eric Harris and Dylan Klebolt’s massacre at Columbine High School ten years ago. They each faced a failed system – but in opposite directions – and they illustrate character and courage – but at opposite ends of the spectrum.
The stories about what was done and said to Jackie Robinson fill volumes. I was born in Brooklyn and was old enough to go to Ebbets Field to see Robinson play in his second year. The insults, curses and threats from the players and fans were still going on then.
The rotten system that kept Robinson out of baseball and harassed him for years was full of anger, hatred and the very real possibility of killing him and his family.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebolt faced a rotten system on the other extreme. They were allowed to be violent, destructive and threaten classmates, but instead of being removed from contact with other students who were their victims, the two were coddled.
A generation in charge of the school and the police falsely believed that if you kept extremely troubled kids in contact with the rest of us and gave them lots of counseling, the troubled kids would stop being crazy bullies. Harris and Klebolt showed a generation what the price was for living that false educational philosophy; each one of those psychopaths could kill about ten innocent people.
We still haven’t righted the system. Thousands of innocent kids are bullied and harassed at school each day while society, the legal system and school principals don’t stop the bullying juvenile delinquents, psychopaths and psychotics.
Jackie Robinson had the character and courage to endure and surmount far worse than the bullying that is claimed to have pushed Harris and Klebolt over the edge. Robinson didn’t give up or explode.
Neither Harris nor Klebolt had character or courage. Bullying didn’t push them over the edge. They ran willingly and repeatedly right to the edge and then jumped off. None of the adults stopped them or removed them.
When will we start protecting the rest of us from the bullies and crazies?
Disclosure: In addition to having six children, growing up in Brooklyn and living in Denver, I’m a practical, pragmatic coach and consultant. I’ve written books of case studies, “Parenting Bully-Proof Kids†and “How to Stop Bullies in their Tracks.†Check out my website and blog at BulliesBeGone (http://BulliesBeGone.com).
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Thanks for the post,
Whose fault was the killings at Columbine High School? And how can we help our children resist bullies, not become bullies themselves and thrive after horrible killings?
Seven of the most common targets of blame are:
1. The bullies who pushed Harris and Klebolt over the edge.
2. The parents of the bullies who didn’t stop their children.
3. The school principal who didn’t stop the bullying of Harris and Klebolt, or stop the earlier violence of the killers.
4. The parents of the killers who didn’t raise their kids better and didn’t had them incarcerated or committed.
5. Harris and Klebolt were simply psychopathic, psychotic killers.
6. A society that is violent and corrupt.
7. A society that has lost its connection with God.
Looking to blame and then fix one part of human life is the wrong way to go. Our efforts to change our school and legal system are necessary, useful and laudable, but they’re not a solution that will prevent future massacres.
Face reality. Bullies, psychopaths and killers are like the weather – they’ve always been with us and always will be. Assigning blame won’t change that.
The useful question for us is how we prepare our children and teenagers for a world in which they’ll face crazy, violent people.
We must teach our children not to use bullying tactics, and to be resilient in the face of bullying and to learn how to stop bullies in their tracks. Obviously, Harris and Klebolt never learned this. The hardest task for parents is to recognize when our children have gone bad and to do something about it.
Answering these difficult questions will help us teach our children better than hand wringing or assigning blame.
Disclosure: In addition to having six children and living in Denver, I’m a practical, pragmatic coach and consultant. I’ve written books of case studies, “Parenting Bully-Proof Kids†and “How to Stop Bullies in their Tracks.†Check out my website and blog at BulliesBeGone (http://BulliesBeGone.com).
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i had never heard that there was any doubt cast upon the cassie bernall story until reading your post. thanks for sharing all the thoughts on the evangelical myths.
i remember after the shootings, a man came to our church to speak to the youth group and parents of youth. i was in 9th grade at the time of the shootings. he was the father of one of the girls who was killed, rachel joy scott. she was a christian as well. her father came to speak to us about the shootings and tell rachel’s story. it was interesting story to hear about how for quite a while rachel had written in her journal that she knew she was going to die and not live past 16, but God had given her peace in it.
toward the end of the talk, the father talked about the state of the schools. he mentioned how God, the Bible and prayer were slowly being taken out of them, and christians were not stopping it. he made the claim that you can’t find the clause about the “separation of church and state” anywhere in the constitution and bill of rights. it was a lie that christians believed, and that we should look it up for ourselves and fight to change our schools.
looking back on the talk that night, if who i am today was there, i would just want to walk toward the guy after the talk and give him a long embrace, tell him i’m so sorry for his loss, but also tell him that nothing he does will bring her back. she’s gone.
i don’t want to cast motive on a grieving father 10 years after the fact, but i would venture to say that the passion he had speaking about the situation of our schools was part of his healing process in venting his deep anger and seeking justice and meaning. it’s a hypothetical situation to say that if we had more God/Bible/Prayer in school this wouldn’t have happened and he would still have his baby girl. but to a grieving father it might make perfect sense, and give him someone to blame and something to fight against.
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Here’s a curious thing… I was a high school junior when the Columbine shootings happened. I grew up in the church and believed myself to be a Christian, but I wasn’t acting like one.
The Columbine shootings clarified things for me, as I asked myself how would I respond in a recant-or-die situation. Would I deny Christ to save my own skin? Or would I remain faithful to Him, even unto death?
Even though I have learned since that Christians were not specifically targeted for their faith, I truly believe that false rumor was used – by the grace of God – to pull me off the fence from nominal profession of belief into the conviction of true faith.
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I work with middle to high school age kids in a school setting. Have for a decade, so I hesistate to do anything but mourn when I think of Columbine. I will add my three cents.
1. There are a lot of troubled youth. A lot. It is only by God’s grace this doesn’t happen more. You can’t live under your bed, but you can’t be ignorant that the world can be a dangerous place.
2. Conspiracay theorist can be crazy, but they can also be right sometimes. I’ve met a few very impressive Birchers.
3. Gun control does not work. More laws would not have stopped young boys as intellegient and deceptive as these. In fact we need more guns and less control of them. We need more good people with guns. Criminals don’t mind breaking laws, that’s why they are criminals. I went hiking with my son this week. We have a new law letting us carry in state parks. I strapped on my 38 and went hiking. A young lady was killed in another state park last year. Would a gun have helped? It wouldn’t have hurt?
You can mod this if you want but the only thing worse that Christians tyring to make culture war hay out of this tragedy is for folks to use for anti-gun propaganda.
Thanks,
Austin
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iMonk, thanks for the clarification. Sorry for making a mountain out of a molehill.
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I’m not discussing the woman as an example of grace or of Christian discipleship. I was discussing the assertion that we ought to believe Christian media rather than the FBI. Her story was presented as one thing for the purpose of money to be made, and then the less generally digestable truth came out.
Another example of “Print the Legend”, with her cast as Pious Polly Purebred. When the reality was a bit more “colorful”.
Just like CSI: Miami as compared to the RL Miami Homicide detectives of First 48.
And we’re not the only ones to do it. (Nobody say a word about the Holy House of Loretto when you’ve “printed the legend” over and over, too.) Cassie Bernell isn’t around to dispute the legend of herself as “The Columbine Martyr”. Just like Matt Shepherd isn’t around to dispute the legend of himself as “Martyr for Gay Rights”. Very conveninent when the subject is dead and can’t tell the real story or object to the spin treatment given them.
And as for the Christian Media (TM) being cited, World Net Daily? With Hal “Here-Comes-the-Antichrist” Lindsay and Pat “Blame-the-Jews” Buchanan on staff and Young Earth Creationism Uber Alles in every issue? I pegged them as a Stealth Christian rag the first time I read their site.
And as for the accusations of “You REALLY believe what the Secular Humanist FBI ‘Reported’, Sheeple?” that I’m reading between the lines, remember that It is Literally Impossible to Disprove a Conspiracy Theory. (i.e. the Utter Certainty of “The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs! We won’t be taken in!”) Any evidence against The Conspiracy is Disinformation Planted by The Conspiracy, and lack of evidence for The Conspiracy is PROOF The Conspiracy is So Vast THEY Can Silence Anybody (Conspiracy Theorist excepted). And Christians seem to be especially prone to Grand Unified Conspiracy Theories.
And just this morning I came across this LJ referencing another response to the anniversary of the Columbine Massacre, this one from Answers in Genesis. Apparently the cause of Columbine was — guess what? Tthe Teaching of EVOLUTION.
Guess when all you have is a hammer, EVERYTHING looks like a nail.
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Before I bring up this point I want to clarify that I am a devote Christian who believes in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Reading the above commentary about the legends, lies and exaggeration regarding the Columbine tragedy I wonder if the skeptics and
opponents of christianity look at this and think or say you “guys” (chistian media and majority of believers) so easily propagate and believe this
stuff your claims about the resurrection of Christ seem to be on the same kind of shaky ground, after there is no FBI report to verify the claims.
How do we respond? (The reason I ask is I have family members who would definitly say the same thing)
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I never said we ought to believe the Christian media rather than the FBI. My point, which I probably failed to make, was that we should treat ALL — Christian, FBI, whatever — secondhand reports with skepticism initially, not unqualified acceptance. That way lies Todd Bentley.
First-person testimonies are one thing. Reports by others of what occurred invariably get some things wrong. Ask anyone who was ever the subject of a newspaper article.
And even some first-person accounts are skewed, sometimes purposely, sometimes unconsciously.
You can’t win.
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Treebeard:
I’m not discussing the woman as an example of grace or of Christian discipleship. I was discussing the assertion that we ought to believe Christian media rather than the FBI. Her story was presented as one thing for the purpose of money to be made, and then the less generally digestable truth came out.
If I were her pastor, I’d be proud of her. She was not in any way a subject I was discussing.
peace
ms
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This is off the subject of Columbine, but iMonk you gave this example: “The woman who talked to the murderer about Purpose Driven Life (after doing drugs with him.)”
Could you say more about this in light of the quote from Luther you just posted? That is, if the devil says “don’t” then do it just to spite his legalisms and prove you aren’t condemned?
What I’m getting at is to me that woman was a wonderful example of the very thing you often discuss on your blog. She’s a fallen sinner, a broken Christian, she’s not making it, she’s not “victorious.” So she does drugs with the murderer who has taken her hostage. (I’m not condoning it or whitewashing it.) Then she also introduces him to Rick Warren’s book, and helps the guy turn himself in. Frankly, that’s one of the most realistic examples of grace abounding to sinners (both the woman and the criminal) that I’ve heard of in recent years.
Granted there may be details I don’t know about. But here’s a druggie who’s also reading a Christian book. That to me shows she’s struggling in her faith, and probably even losing. Yet she still manages to eke out something of a Christian testimony. I’m not sure why this example is a negative with you. She wasn’t a fraud like Warnke, she was the real thing, a sinner and a loser trapped in a bad situation who was able to take whatever she had of Christ and turn that situation (her being a hostage) around. I remember the photos of the guy who had killed the judge – his face was visibly different when he turned himself in, like he had been visited by an angel or something.
Anyway, that story affected me at the time far more than “marty’s testimonies” including those of Columbine. Here was a woman I could relate to, and I was even reading Rick Warren when this happened. Fine, Warren has his problems and limitations, but he impacted one screwed-up woman’s life, and through her reached a murderer. And I definitely believe that the Lord allowed that as a testimony concerning Him to many people just like that druggie woman.
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Thanks for the link iMonk. It’s interesting reading a somewhat objective view of the tragedy at Columbine for once. Those books by the Christian publishers have sold like hotcakes here in Australia and I’ve always been suspicious over claims that Christians were targeted. Thanks for the eye opener.
Pax.
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Hmm, don’t think I was very clear.
I think that experts putting together a trail of evidence from different sources could certainly give a different picture (and a more substantiated and yes, accurate one) than asking a shell-shocked child what happened right after a traumatic event. I also doubt USA Today would be stupid enough to lie about a report that is available on-line no matter how sinisterly liberal they might be.
http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/columbinehigh.htm
What confuses me is why this FBI report is supposed to be so anti-Christian. Judging from the book review on Salon (since my computer can’t get into the FBI report), it sounds like a different girl than Cassie was asked about belief in God after she was already shot and still answered that she did believe. Different girl, same story, (except she didn’t die). And the killers did shoot some Christians even if they weren’t targeting them in particular. If this FBI report was concocted to undermine Christianity then I guess I’m too dim to see how it could.
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With Columbine being in my back yard I reflect often upon that day of horror…thanks for your post.
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Excellent point about access to weaponry. Down here in Arkansas we narrowly escaped a law allowing concealed pistols to be carried in church regardless of what the church said about it.
I mean, if someone was rebaptized carrying a 9mm in their pants, it might ruin it. I suppose you could always lay your .45 on the rail when you knelt to take communion.
The overlap between gun idolatry and right wing Christianity is very scary to me. It’s pretty much open season on liberals anymore.
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Lance Athanasius: I love it when a commenter does an imitation of Ken Silva then tells me how wrong I got it. Is that my problem? Who listed the standard reformed heroes mall? Who ended it with Macarthur?
So if you’re actually Scot McKnight, wow. Good role-play.
I didn’t call you a kook. You did call me deceived with your scripture quote. You did say I’m anti Christian. You did portray this blog in bizarrely biased terms.
Just comment on the posts and leave me out of it. Your aside about your judgments on this blog is what has me typing this.
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I don’t say the FBI is flawless. I’m not naive. I’m saying they are a lot more reasonably qualified and motivated to produce a standard of evidence we can accept (even with reservations) than Worldnet Daily or some nutty blogger.
Believing these alternative Christian media sources will drive you into tin foil hats. I’m not interested in going there.
ms
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Chaffee It did not matter to me whether it was Valeen, Cassie, or some say Rachel Scott. I was not there. The kids who were there may have clouded memories. It was very traumatic. But that is what the kids said “immediately” after the events when the incident was fresh in their minds. And now USA Today “says” the FBI “says” no, without any FBI report referenced.
ps.imonk Since you responded to the part of my post you edited. I assure you I do not fall into those categories you try to insinuate that I am in. I too am a subscriber to Touchstone. I teach Church History. I attend an SBC church. I have no clue what you are talking about when you say “Warnke, drilling into hell, healing lies”. Purpose driven? not me. I am old fashioned EE.
My old pastor Don Sweeting (son of Dr. George Sweeting of Moody Bible Inst.) was on the scene the night of the shooting. He had just begun to pastor a Presbyterian church in CO that week. Trying to insinuate that I am some sort of kook because I read very closely what is written is merely ad homenim.
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Bob Pinto & Bob Brague,
Why are Christians always so immediately believe such stories taken at face value. Especially in the instance of Columbine and Cassie. There are so many conflicting reports among the students that were in the library that day. Even Cassie’s mom when writing the book acknowledges that there were conflicting reports. These stories get reach legendary status within the christian community. Songs being written. Writing after writing, using Cassie as an example of how Christians should act when faced with persecution. And yet we stand back and get insulted when people label Christians as anti-intellectuals. In this case, we question the “liberal media” and dismiss other accounts from students that give a different version of Cassie rather than the version that people WANT to believe.
Yes, God ONLY knows what really happened. But must we assume what happened and ignore facts and testimonies from people that were actually there?
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I think that the assumption I should believe Worldnet Daily and Christian talk radio- who have a clear agenda to reject everything that doesn’t come from their approved sources- rather than the FBI who have to produce evidence to stand the test of peer review and evidential processes in court is on the other fellow. Not on me.
I’m not even remotely interested in living by the idea that Christian media should be trusted about anything. Proven liars.
On the girl in Atlanta, she used drugs with the guy, but Christian media made her an immediate hero to sell books. We’re pathetic.
peace
ms
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Martha, gun control is an extremely hot-button issue over here. Suffice to say that regardless of restrictions, it has never been difficult for people desiring firepower to get around them.
Which country do you hail from? Is gun control more successful over there?
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Well, after reading bob pinto’s comment I feel a little less lonely.
iMonk, I know you’ve had a lot of bad experiences and a lot more aware of spurious pseudo-Christianity than most of your readers, but you sound a little jaded in your “It’s an FBI report” comment. Paranoid, even. As far as I know, and I live in the Atlanta area, the Brian Nichols/Ashley Smith story is true. Obviously you and I might be a little further down the Christian road than Ashley Smith was at the time.
I don’t want to sound like a kook, but playing devil’s advocate, why should we believe the FBI again?
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Coming at this from the angle of a foreigner, I find it interesting that part of the thread is veering off on the tangent of “Demonic possession – yay or nay?” but there’s no sign of addressing the first thing that comes to my mind, which is how the hell did these kids get their hands on guns and ammo so easily?
Yes, there are hunting rifles and shotguns around here, but still – I can’t offhand think of teenagers from our school being able to tool up like that – home-made bombs, for crying out loud! – and yet, in all the discussion of ‘video game violence’ and the like, no mention of “Oops – maybe they shouldn’t have had access to weapons”?
Please correct all my complete misunderstanding of the situation with my gratitude.
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There’s nothing wrong with it. It just can’t be substantiated by law enforcement reporting standards.
Very interesting what people will accept when inclined. But if it were your kid on trial, what kind of evidential standard would we all insist on?
peace
ms
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Just curious why the opposition to any suggestion that it might have been another girl who was asked about her faith and not Cassie. If it really was Valeen Schnurr who answered that she believed in God even after she had been shot, why is that a problem?
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It’s an FBI report. Not a USA Today report. But really, we’re all going to believe what we need to believe. I’m against Christians, like the rest of the world. If I were a real Christian, I’d never be critical of any Christian’s claim about anything.
I hear this same song about EVERY evangelical manipulation and lie. Warnke. Drilling Into Hell. The woman who talked to the murderer about Purpose Driven Life (after doing drugs with him.) All the Financial scandals. All the lies about healing. All the paranoia about Obama being a Muslim.
I have a low tolerance for conspiracy theorists and I don’t apologize for it. I consider most Culture war media to be propaganda.
If that’s a problem, there are hundreds of web sites like Worldnet Daily where you can sleep on the soft pillow of evangelical delusions.
ms
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USA Today is not a credible source. I am not refuting your article, but to use any mainstream paper as a valid source in this day and age is silly. Their agenda is anti-Christian & anti-conservative.
imonk says, “no one confessed belief in God and died as a result.” That is unknown. The original questioning of the validity of Cassie Bernall’s death was done by Salon (far, far, left wing). The testimonies of a few students in the library are unsure of who said what. One student, Joshua Lapp, still stands by his testimony that Cassie did say that. Peter Langman does not know. USA Today does not know. They were not there. While Joshua could be mistaken I would believe him before I would believe Salon, Mr. Langman, or anyone from USA Today. Only God knows for sure.
[MOD edit]
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I have thought for some time that the distinctively Christian interpretation about Columbine was flawed and probably not true. At the same time, many other groups in American captured the Columbine story and used it for their own purposes. Christians, while guilty, were hardly alone.
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Bob Pinto: Because it’s an FBI report. Law enforcement. Criminology. It’s not the “liberal media.” It’s people who get paid to study this their entire life. Why do we think the law enforcement community has an agenda. The kid in Paducah was a completely different matter, but again, it’s mental illness. Not persecution. If you don’t think Christian prayer groups are popularity groups in most schools, you don’t know PSs. They are an easy target for kids with issues.
And to the guy who couldn’t believe we do risk assessments for a private school: Uh…School discipline records. Counseling notes and assessments. Psych notes and assessments. Law enforcement records. It’s all on my desk when we take a student.
ms
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I’m leaning towards Bob Brague’s doubt of this sudden revisionism.
Why shouldn’t we have believed the original story. Christians were murdered while praying in the Paducah, KY shooting.
Interesting there is no media revision there because the facts are indisputable.
Why do you want to believe Columbine is suddenly chock-a-block full of urban myths?
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Harris was a dangerously disturbed, brilliantly egomaniacal psych case. Klebold was a follower, depressed and suicidal.
One of those “Mindhunter” books by a retired FBI profiler said the same thing re serial killer pairs in general. The pair is always composed of an active leader and a passive follower.
(The famous Loeb-Leopold murder case of the 1920s also involved an active/passive pair.)
Their families were normal. Where they were aware of problems, they tried to respond. They made mistakes, but the boys were exceptionally deceptive.
Because psychopaths/sociopaths are experts at camouflaging what they are. (The “Eddie Haskell” description of one of the perps in the USA Today article bears this out.) This also means the rebound persecution of anyone “different” would always miss the real sociopaths.
(The difference between psychopath and sociopath? A psychopath is literally incapable of knowing right from wrong; a sociopath knows but doesn’t care.)
You see, I grew up with a sociopath in my immediate family. (Remember The Bad Seed, sans the obviously tacked-on Hollywood happy ending?) Nobody is as polite, as respectful, as considerate, as truthful, as concerned, as compassionate, as helpful, or as much an “Angel of Light” as a sociopath — until the instant you have outlived your usefulness.
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Don’t forget to factor in the Liberty Valance Effect:
“When legend conflicts with fact, print the legend.”
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Whoah, hold on there just a bit cey….
I certainly did NOT mean to condone any denial of Christ.
I appologize if the wording of my post made it seem like that, but I agree with you for the record.
The whole “calvinist” thing was about whether you would go to hell when you died if you denied Christ under pressure. It took me a while after that to fully accept the P in tulip.
Tim I got all the YEC stuff too. Good times.
Bottom line though, youth group did serve to help solidify my own commitment to the faith, even if I did have to go back and rethink exactly how I would define it. 🙂
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Unfortunately, Christians often veer between two extremes with people like the Columbine shooters. They categorize them as either evil demons, persecutors, sucked into a secular culture that spawns people like this because of its anti-Christian godlessness, or, with a nod to your recent Luther quote, we don’t worry too much about it because we are all sinners, there isn’t really anything we can do to make life on this earth that much better, and anyway “our depravity isn’t going to be erased by efforts”, so we don’t bother to try. We just hole up in our happy Christian homes and schools, gloating over the fact that stuff like this doesn’t happen in our families and keepin’ our eyes on Jesus.
And you are right. This was NOT religious persecution, but American Christians are extremely gifted at finding persecution where none exists. It’s much easier to fight an enemy that really isn’t there than one who is.
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“Again, why are we so quick to hoist Cassie high while ignoring those lives that have been given in true martyrdom?â€
My guess: because she was pretty, and we’re kind of vain.
I think we nationally fell in love with the myth of the charming, blonde, pure, All-American martyr girl and she became after her death the kind of Christian we all wish people saw us as – tragic, noble, and physically fetching while maintaining an aura of wholesomeness. The martyr ideal is a pledge to avail a certain attribute of beauty, a perfected faith, even while every other part of us is stunted or just average. She’s automatically promoted to be The Best of Us because she physically matches the template of what we wish we looked like or would love to marry and because she supposedly died for the most heroic reason we Christians acknowledge. She’s sort frozen into a pose of the ideal Christian woman-to-be, in a sense.
Christians know ourselves to be ugly and stupid and selfish – but when somebody comes along who is young and beautiful and confessionally Christian and happens to die early enough and in the right circumstances, we can and do enshrine in them all the life and fidelity to Christ that’s since passed us by or missed us altogether. We heap her full of compliments and load her with significance, but it ultimately becomes a way to pat ourselves on the back, to reward ourselves for having “people like her” among our number. And in that way, when we remember her, we can pretend to see a little of ourselves in the comely face we’ve painted on the mirror.
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I’m not even an evangelical anymore, but I found it easy to opt into many of the beliefs you mentioned about this event. Whatever the full facts might be about Columbine (and I just don’t think I’ll somehow be sure of all of them in this lifetime), it is an incredibly good point that what is comfortable to believe is easy to believe, truth be damned.
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So Miguel,
It’s alright to deny Christ when someone has a gun to your head?
I don’t get that from scripture at all. It has nothing to do with “Arminian” or “Calvinist”. Check out the end of Hebrews 11, as well as all of Christ’s life and the Apostles’ lives.
Yes, Peter was forgiven for denying Christ, but that is certainly not held up as exemplary. We are not given permission to rationalize that since Peter denied Christ and “got away with it” then we can deny Him and then come back for forgiveness.
It’s not easy, no one is saying that, but what does Jesus say about this topic.
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My own very random informal thought, having lived for a while in a nearby suburb (Englewood, CO) and relatives currently living in Littleton, on why there were so many Christian kids who died at Columbine is that was a reflection of the demography of the community.
Regardless, the stories of the youth and their families is one filled with tragedy, struggles, and some healing, and lessons for all of us. My favorite Christian hero from Columbine (I would rather use the word “hero” rather than “martyr”) is Rachel Scott.
http://www.racheljoyscott.com/index.htm
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The issue of mental illness – especially depression and issues surrounding that would probably make a good post and discussion. — Guy from Knoxville
I think both IMonk and Christian Monist have posted on this subject. Search their archives.
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Wow, I hadn’t heard any of that stuff. I’m glad I’m not in that sort of evangelical hothouse.
That said, you do “risk assessments of high school students applying to our program”? Man, that must be some application process if you can credibly discern anything about risk at the application stage. I’ve served & chaired an admissions committee over a number of years (graduate admissions, to be sure, but admissions nonetheless) that reviews about 100 pages of application material for each applicant. I’d never dream I could make a risk assessment from that material.
I’d be curious to know what sort of questions do you ask, or what kind of materials to you solicit, that allow you to assess risk? (Just a couple of illustrations, I’m not asking for a comprehensive answer.)
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I never did believe the hoopla surrounding the martyrdom.
On a related note, a recent issue of Newsweek profiled two pastors. The one who reached out in Christian love to the Klebold family, trying to minister to them in their darkest imaginable hour, was villified.
What does that say about Christianity in America?
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“no atheism connection”.
Trying to grasp your main point in this post. I assume you are responding to evangelical hype that you are not specifically discussing, so I guess each line is aimed at something. I read in good faith.
I want to address the claim of “no atheism connection”. I agree with the words, but I am not sure I agree with your sentiment. I do not believe that a real atheist exists in the universe. For, even the atheist clings to some kind of absolute that they esteem as the authority, the answer to knowledge and the defining measure of who they are as a person. In this sense, everyone is religious, without exception.
But I take it that your sentiment is that these two boys were not “Anti-the Triune God”. This is an odd position to be in, as it implies quite a bit. Either you must answer as to what the young men’s religion was, or you must give attribute to them some kind of faith in the One True God.
Can you clarify what you mean? Your words are a bit confusing.
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Miguel
I feel for you. I went through a similiar experience with the Mike Warnkey thing in the mid-eighties. That was during the Satanic Panics of the time. Loving youth group and church, that I am certain only had our best interest at heart, exposed us to complete balderdash becuase they failed to practice critical thinking. Same thing really with the YEC stuff at the same time. They damage many young minds because they fail to think about what believe. Things that match with their preconcieved notion of the world as it must be pass their filters unchecked.
I really like the post BTW.
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But it is not simply at Columbine where the hagiography is less than honest. — Fr Ernesto
That goes back a LONG time. I remember “Lives of the Saints” that never mentioned St Philip Neri’s wacked-out sense of humor (the guy’s the Patron Saint of Comedians for a reason) or St Rose of Lima’s psychotic self-destructiveness. All Shiny Holy Plaster Statues.
I wholeheartedly agree with all that was concluded in your piece. I do feel that one crucial, possible cause for this type of behavior was left out…demonism. — Charlie
Don’t go there, Charlie. Don’t swallow a supernatural explanation unless you’ve exhausted the natural explanations. There’s a LOT of “Spiritual Warriors” out there who literally see DEMONS under every bed (or possessing anyone who doesn’t agree with them 1000%). I think IMonk has a couple essays on “I’m Tired of Weird Christians” who make you think you’ve stepped into a bad Star Wars or Call of Cthulhu fanfic.
I asked myself, “What would I do if somebody shoved a gun in my face?†— Scott Somerville
I KNOW the first thing I’d do: Pee my pants.
The Puritans meditated on the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. — Scott Somerville
i.e. the original meaning of the word “Eschatology”.
I doubt they would turn Columbine into a lesson about the evils of video games. — Scott Somerville
Or of guns, or of Goths, or of Geeks & Freaks, or of pencil/paper/funny dice gamers…
No, that sort of thing is a specialty of the Kyle’s Moms, and they come out of the woodwork these days if ANYTHING happens, waving their lawyers and agendas in front of the cameras.
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Sam – the reason Cassie is remembered and not the missionaries is for a couple of reasons. I would argue that one reason, but not the only one, is that there is a subtext to Cassie that good American evangelical training produces Christians who are ready to be martyred for Christ, after having lived very typical American lives of little self-sacrifice.
Unfortunately missionary stories all speak of people who went through intense self-sacrifice in order to achieve their goal of taking the Good News to a needy world. Their stories call you to change right now, while Cassie’s story says that when the time comes, it will turn out OK.
Mind you, this is no judgment upon Cassie herself, as the evidence is that she does appear to have been a genuinely Christian teen. But, I remember one poor Orthodox priest who had the temerity to answer an online question from an Orthodox teen who asked whether Cassie would be considerd a martyr by us. He gave a careful answer which did not make any judgment and pointed out that the Orthodox do not make easy judgments about such things. Of course, he was pilloried as an awful brute who was unloving, uncharitable, and obviously a person who did not wish to acknowledge the Christianity of others.
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…. Words fail to express the amount of anger I feel after having read this post. Every single evangelical myth you presented in this post was fed to me at the time, and I bought it all. I was 13 at the time. I wasn’t about to do my own in depth investigation to discover the facts! I liked my youth group leader and I trusted him because he obviously cared for us. This is, for me, the first time I’ve thought about the incidents since.
But the question was put to us so many times:
“If somebody put a gun to your head would you deny Christ?”
And then came in all the arminian (sp?) questions about the losing of your salvation if you denied.
Why have we tolerated such bigoted lies to be taught in our churches in the name of truth?
A deacon in the church had a bumper sticker that said, “I will not trust the liberal media.”
At this point, I feel like the Christian media has been much more dangerously untruthful. In retrospect I had developed a persecution complex due to the spin on these stories I was subjected to. Yeah, that really made me a powerful and effective witness for Christ in high school.
And we blame the culture for the Church’s failure to raise disciples?
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Andy D: I spent four years in high school (Arroyo High, El Monte, CA, 1969-73). I have spent the 30+ years since trying to forget what happened to me in those four years. I was the school Geek before there was such a thing as Geek culture, when Geek meant “carnie sideshow subhuman who bites the heads off chickens.”
I have never been so close to suicide — before or since — as I was during those four “Best Years of Our Lives”. And the scars are still there.
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I think there is pure evil in the world, call it Satan or call it anything you want, and here is an example of it at work.
There are lots of troubled kids out there raised and living in awful environments, but it takes something else, something evil, to make “the tiny little switch inside her head get switched to overload.” (Name that Columbinian Tune).
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I have always wondered why some christians are so quick to try and make heroes and martyrs of people like in the Columbine case. Especially, when there are true martyrs in the mission field today that are dying for the faith. Courageous missionaries that willingly going into hostile nations in order to share the gospel. Very seldom do we hear about their lives and sacrifices and how they laid down their lives that others might be saved and be brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But yet in Columbine, Cassie is being presented as a martyr. Referenced as a shining example of faith under fear of death. All of this based on accounts of that day that we have to question the validity of. The scene must have been so chaotic that fateful day. Gunshots going off. Screaming, yelling, crying, moaning, etc. But yet through it all, someone was able to recall Cassie’s supposed words. Now a matter of MUCH debate. It is not that I lack sympathy for Cassie but there were other Christians that died that day as well but none more celebrated and memorialized than Cassie.
Again, why are we so quick to hoist Cassie high while ignoring those lives that have been given in true martyrdom?
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I’m very glad you wrote about this and will look up the USA Today article. I have always been extremely uncomfortable with the whole co-opting of this terrible tragedy by some Christians to further their view of Christians persecution. Of course, it’s hard to take some of these folks seriously, as they also seem to believe that persecution of Christians includes the Wal-Mart greeter saying, “Happy Holidays” to them instead of “Merry Christmas”.
I don’t think American Christians have a clue about what might actually constitute persecution. I would include myself in that, except to say that I know what it isn’t.
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Boethius:
It’s the FBI report. See the USA Today article linked in the piece. All of this has been reported in recent books on Columbine.
The parents testimony is sealed, except what they have said to non law enforcement interviewers.
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As usual, another fantastic post IM.
I was in high school when Columbine happened. Nothing was worse then having Harris and Klebold projected onto me because, apparently, I fit the stereotype. The worst was being told by just about everyone (very religious town) that it was never too late for me to be saved from my evil ways. Which, of course, only alienated me further.
In retrospect it’s funny to me (my experiences, not the shooting). High School was as miserable for me as it was for anyone else who was equally confused at the time. I remember a girl who created a list of students at our school who she thought could go on a rampage. I argued with the principle for hours saying her list was equal to the, apparently non-existant, list the shooters had created. But it was just a bitter teenager angsting against another confused teenager.
God I’m glad those years are long gone.
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Michael,
The issue of mental illness – especially depression and issues surrounding that would probably make a good post and discussion. This is an area in evangelicalism that we are probably most deceptive about both in our churches and in what we put before the public. There is such shame and such a stigma that goes with these issues and it bears attention and addressing.
Just a thought for future writing.
RM
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Michael,
Something you mentioned in the post:
“There are issues for Christians in Columbine. Issues like acknowledging and admitting mental illness.”
This brought to mind an issue that is totally avoided and buried in the evangelical church these days and it’s that of mental illness – depression, suicidal thoughts/tendancies, the use of medications in such instances etc. To be sure, medication is sometimes (if not many times) used where it doesn’t need to be used but the entire concept that mental illness and issues exists in evangelicalism runs counter to everything that is attempted to be taught. Example: if you really are in Christ (saved) then you couldn’t possibly have issues like this – only people who don’t know Christ, who are un-belivers are like this and have those issues. The mental illness/issues fly in the face of all that evangelicalism wants to believe and what it wants the world to believe about them (us). To admit this is to admit that we don’t have all the answers (novel thought there!) which is true, we don’t have all the answers on this and many other issues that we want to hide and lock away in the perverbial basement or attic.
I thought of this because of my mother who was severely manic/depressive all of her life and there was not help from the church (sbc congregation) that we attended except the whispering and gossip that was done about it and most, if not all of that, was completely mis-understood and wrong. Even before she died in 2004 the church her and my dad were attending basically ignored and avoided the issue. This is but one example and there are others with even worse issues than my mother had that were pushed aside and out of the church altogether but that’s for another time.
Well, enough for now – thought this was a very interesting post and the USA Today article was enlightening to say the least.
RM
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Michael:
I am just curious what sources you used for this post. Has anyone really had direct access to the parents of the killers? Did they really comment at length what their home lives were like or what their sons’ lives were like before the shootings? I know the killers left behind video. Was all information turned over to the public?
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Much of what we heard and much of what we as evangelicals told ourselves was simply not true. — IMonk
I am not surprised that legends grew up around Columbine. Legend and myth always accrete around
such a spectacular event.
“History became Legend,
Legend became Myth,
And much that should not have been forgotten, was.”
— Prologue to Fellowship of the Ring, Peter Jackson adaptation
There is no video game connection, no occult connection, no atheism connection. Not even a particularly stereotypical pair of high school “troubled loners.†— IMonk
And no Goth connection.
And no D&D connection.
And no Nerd connection.
And no Geek connection.
Don’t forget the post-Columbine Zero-Tolerance Backlash against anybody who was “different” (i.e. anyone who wasn’t a Football Quarterback, Cheerleader, or “SQUEEEE! POP-ULAR!”)
No Christians were specially targeted for their faith. No one confessed belief in God and died as a result. the plan was to kill a whole school. The fantasy was terror on a large scale. Terror and legend were the motives. — IMonk
Does this include the story that they did it because “WE’RE GONNA BE FAMOUS“?
Other than that, yes, the Christian alternative-universe is almost as weird as the bourgeois alternate-universe of the privileged such as populate affluent neighborhoods. — Bruce Meyer
And with Blinky Osteen and megachurches, I wouldn’t doubt there’s a lot of overlap between those two alternative universes.
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So, the whole Cassie Bernall story was a myth?
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Michael,
Normally, I agree with your assessments, but I think this one swept too much under the carpeting.
The thief comes to steal and destroy. Yet how easily we lose track of the reality of a spiritual world in which powers wrestle for dominion and control. When others attempt to “normalize” evil, it numbs us to its presence. We end up explaining everything away as if we are embarrassed by our own shock at the presence of that spiritual realm.
We can see the Columbine shooters as both mentally ill boys AND tools in the hands of principalities and powers. We don’t have to exclude one or the other. The nature of our world is that evil lives and it has its puppets, whether the puppets know it or not. And the banality or commonplace nature of that evil is something we simply cannot ignore.
When we try to pin the blame solely on mankind, we miss the greater picture. And when we miss that picture, it becomes easy for us to become inured to the reality of the demonic. One of Evangelicalism’s major failings is its weak theological grasp of the demonic realms and how they play out in normal life. If anything, Columbine shows us how easily the world of genuine evil intrudes into our lives.
No matter how we wish to label Harris and Klebold, they were pawns in a battle we ignore at our own peril. Labeling them mentally ill or possessed by evil doesn’t change the nature of the battle. We cannot forget this. Sadly, diminishment is often the first step toward forgetting.
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Michael, take a look at this article from Christianity Today entitled “Trained to Kill.”
Written by a retired Lt Colonel in the Army, David Grossman. Dated 8/10/1998, it is post-Jonesboro and, although pre-Columbine, it became even more relevant after Columbine.
Grossman addresses the psychology of killing and also how our children are affected by violent video games and films.
http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/1998/august10/8t9030.html
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“…save a soul and change a culture one person at a time.”
And that can’t be done if we surround ourselves and our children with like-minded individuals. Yes, the Columbine tradegy was scary – but it was an anomoly. Shortly after that time everyone was running around waiting for a similar tradagy to strike their school – as if the type portrayed by the media existed in every school and they were now all given the signal to come out and cause mass destruction and death.
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Interesting, thoughtful assessment.
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“. . . save a soul and change a culture one person at a time.”
You nailed it, Jeff Smith. That is the only way to do this.
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Or perhaps this author’s book and the newspaper’s retrospective are a bit of revisionist history themselves. Who is to say? Who knows for sure?
As my mother used to say, “Vas you dere, Charley?”
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It was a collision of two people whose particular issues and problems created the perfect chemistry for a mutual fantasy of violence.
Sort of like Hitler and Mussolini.
Wow, this is all news to me. Thank you for writing about it.
Are you saying the father of the girl who was said to have confessed her faith and been killed because of it was a fraud? (I haven’t read the USA Today piece yet.)
How sad if that is true.
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Fr Ernesto: this was just excellent
Too many Christians see any disagreement with their position as being persecution. The problem is that if one defines disagreement as persecution, then there is no room for theological discussion.
when vocal disagreement is thrown in the same category with torture in prison, or harrassed physically on a daily basis, the word “persecution” becomes a mockery.
We’ll get our turn, but not yet.
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I was in high school during Columbine, and although it was incredibly saddening, the reaction it brought about in many areas was always a source of tension for me.
It seemed that anything that was already disliked by church leaders, parental figures, and school authorities was somehow associated with Columbine and thereby effectively demonized. Wearing too much black, being cynical and anti-social, and especially rock music and video games all came under the stigma of some vague association with Columbine.
My reaction did not fly well with some parents in the school, I did a massive class project on how school violence and violent video games are utterly unrelated. Not sure if that’s completely true, but I was sick of people condemning my games and it certainly got some people worked up at the time.
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The message I took home from Columbine had very little to do with the subsequent hagiography. I asked myself, “What would I do if somebody shoved a gun in my face?”
The Puritans meditated on the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. I doubt they would turn Columbine into a lesson about the evils of video games.
There’s nothing I can do to protect myself or the people I love from a violent world, except to made sure they know the One who knows every sparrow that falls. Whether I find myself in a “black swan” event like Columbine or a bigger disaster like 9/11, I want to respond like a Christian.
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Thanks for posting this, Michael.
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I wholeheartedly agree with all that was concluded in your piece. I do feel that one crucial, possible cause for this type of behavior was left out…demonism. I don’t pretend to fully understand how it works, but we do know that Satan is a murderer (John 8:44, John 13:27). I believe that we can safely assume that in some cases the primary cause for such violent acts is the enemy simply doing, in and through people, what he is.
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thank you for the insight.
my father-in-law is a crime scene investigator specializing in reconstruction and blood spatter analysis.
he was at columbine with the swat team and was among the first inside the school to do his analysis; my wife grew up about 2 hours south of littleton.
he is a non-believer and i have hoped to use aspects of his job – the death he sees, the state of man, how he deals with it – as a bridge to sharing the Gospel….to no avail thus far.
but your perspective on columbine helps shed light on the situation. thank you
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Thanks, Michael. I had no idea that some Christian groups were “interpreting” Columbine in the way you described.
And to Pastor M. I really like your poster with the quotation, “The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.†So true!
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Excellent overview and commentary. Finally! Will you take on the 9-11 mythology next?
Grace and peace,
`tim
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Good assessment and a clear head is something that too many of us lack. For all our dedication to our impression of what “the faith” is we miss the critical components of curious, honest, and patient inquiry. We evangelical types too often resort to inflammatory statements to convince others to adopt our narrow interpretation of the broader/deeper kingdom faith. I’d like to promote the sufficiency of our Father’s love, of the sufficiency of Christ’s once-for-all finished work, and the Holy Spirit’s power to do what we could never do: save a soul and change a culture one person at a time.
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But it is not simply at Columbine where the hagiography is less than honest. Too many Christians see any disagreement with their position as being persecution. The problem is that if one defines disagreement as persecution, then there is no room for theological discussion.
In fact, if one defines disagreement as persecution, then one tends to fall into a “victim” philosophy. But, here is the contradiction. Hmm, were not conservatives those who were strongest against people labeling themselves as “victims?” After all, was not “victimology” one of the inappropriate methods used by “liberals”?
I guess that it is only victimology if the “other side” is doing it.
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In the opening paragraph, the writer contrasts “ordinary kids” with “kids with serious psychological problems.” I think–and am open to being refuted by actual data, if there is any–that a high percentage of so-called ordinary kids are in fact kids with serious psychological problems. This fact, and I’m sure it is a fact, is a main complaint of public school advocates toward private school people: that the healthy ones get siphoned off, leaving even a greater percentage of hard cases.
Other than that, yes, the Christian alternative-universe is almost as weird as the bourgeois alternate-universe of the privileged such as populate affluent neighborhoods. Both groups have harsh group-behavior mandates and exclude knowledges that rock the boat. Klebold and Harris didn’t fit into either one, sadly. Happily, most Christian bloggers that I know, and Christian artists and intellectuals, don’t either. Happily, again, many individual Bible-believing and/or church-going normal folks don’t either.
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Thanks for this. I’ve been casually intrigued by Columbine but not enough to do the investigations of it myself. This confirms some of my long-held suspicions though. Reality is more illuminating that mythology.
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Unfortunately, the answer to all those questions is probably no.
We can trust the media to give us partial truth, but we can’t trust it for the whole truth, which is ultimately in the hands of historians, scholars, and researchers who are willing to take the time to piece together a coherent picture. Part of the problem is that no, we can’t be patient. We want answers; and we particularly want answers that fit our agendas.
So many Christians were quick to jump on this tragedy as an example of the world’s evil or even demoniac evil. Pastors were preaching Columbine sermons that weekend. Christian media was very quick to turn that Cassie Bernall urban legend into a book deal and speaking tour; I saw a video presentation of it at my church within the month. We’re so desperate to claim martyrdom where we don’t merit it that sometimes that we’ll take whatever we can get, and when facts get in the way, we’ll obscure them even more than our “opponents” do—and with righteous indignation, to boot.
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Michael, thank you for writing one of the few sane commentaries I’ve read about Columbine.
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I have a poster in my office of a rag doll with a pained expression on her face as she’s going through an old-fashioned ringer on a washer. The caption reads “The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” The truth doesn’t always fit into our “pre-existing categories,” as you put it. We all tend to put our “spin” on what we purport to be the truth. We all could use more of the gift of discernment as this whole Columbine thing reveals. We fool ourselves all too often if we believe that we know all the truth on anything, save, that Jesus is Lord, but that doesn’t stop us from making fools of ourselves, but not “fools for Christ,” as some would want us to see them–heck, us, me. Lord, have mercy on us all!
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