Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution

[YWN666]

Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution on EthicsDaily.com

Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution
By: Michael Spencer Email
Posted: Monday, April 20, 2009 5:29 am



Columbine 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, Spencer writes.


"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."


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, were 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.)......

.....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...............



Follow the link for the entire article.

 

[Luissa]

Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution on EthicsDaily.com

Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution
By: Michael Spencer Email
Posted: Monday, April 20, 2009 5:29 am



Columbine 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, Spencer writes.


"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."


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, were 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.)......

.....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...............



Follow the link for the entire article.

I read this thought it was very interesting! But Michael Moore pretty much went to what they are saying in Bowling for Columbine. This article and Michael Moore also discussed how it was not video games or Marilyn Manson that caused the attacks either. These boys just had mental issues and we are lucky they did not become more skilled at bombs and other forms of terrorism.
I remember the day it happened like it was yesterday, I was a senior in high school and we didn't do anything that day but watch CNN.It doesn't seem like it was ten years ago. My friend Dan from high school dad actually lived a block away from Columbine and took some kids in the day of the attack.

 

[AllieBaba]

Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution on EthicsDaily.com

Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution
By: Michael Spencer Email
Posted: Monday, April 20, 2009 5:29 am



Columbine 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, Spencer writes.


"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."


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, were 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.)......

.....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...............



Follow the link for the entire article.

Not true. One of the girls targeted was asked, "Do you still believe in Jesus?" and when she said yes, she was shot. Twice.

 

[AllieBaba]

".....Joshua Lapp, a witness to the library shootings, said in his interview with investigators that the shooters asked several people if they believed in God and the answers given didn't seem to dictate who was shot or not."
http://www.acolumbinesite.com/victim/cassie.html

But the point is, they did ask.

 

[YWN666]

Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution on EthicsDaily.com

Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution
By: Michael Spencer Email
Posted: Monday, April 20, 2009 5:29 am



Columbine 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, Spencer writes.


"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."


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, were 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.)......

.....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...............



Follow the link for the entire article.

Not true. One of the girls targeted was asked, "Do you still believe in Jesus?" and when she said yes, she was shot. Twice.

That was proven to be a falsehood.

 

[xsited1]

Well of course not. Only pagans go to public schools.

 

[YWN666]

".....Joshua Lapp, a witness to the library shootings, said in his interview with investigators that the shooters asked several people if they believed in God and the answers given didn't seem to dictate who was shot or not."
http://www.acolumbinesite.com/victim/cassie.html

But the point is, they did ask.

If they weren't shot because of the answer, then that kills the whole christian persecution claim.

Right after the shootings, the religious right took full advantage and started a "look what happens when you take god out of schools" campaign (nevermind that such a sentiment is absolutely false). Cassie bernall who was killed in the shootings allegedly was asked if she believed in God before she was shot. Her mother wrote a book about the incident but it was determined that such an incident never took place. It is disgusting to think that people took advantage of such a tragedy to advance their own agenda.

 

[AllieBaba]

Anyone who listens to what Michael Moore has to say about anything has bigger issues than we see here.

"May 15 - As explosions and gunfire thundered through the halls of Columbine High, Cassie Bernall closed her eyes and clasped her hands in prayer. One of the killers pointed a shotgun at her and asked if she believed in God.

Yes, she said.

And then he killed her."
The Denver Post Online - Columbine - Tragedy and Recovery

"Eric Harris pointed his gun at Cassie’s face. “Do you believe in God?” he asked. She paused, knowing what a positive answer could mean. “Yes, I do,” she said. He pulled the trigger. She was sent to meet God face-to-face. Harris turned to Val Schnurr and pointed his weapon at her. Do you believe in God?” Val had just witnessed the violent result of a “yes” answer. But she responded truthfully. “Yes.” He shot her, too. But she miraculously survived....

"Out of 12 students randomly killed at Columbine High School on April 20, four were seriously active Catholics and four more were committed Evangelical Christians. Eight out of 12 — two-thirds of the student victims — were serious, involved Christians. These numbers were, apparently, fairly representative of the general population. The students of Columbine High School are, overall, a very religious group."

May/June 1999 - Can We Talk?

 

[Sky Dancer]

I think this thread should be in the conspiracy section.

 

[AllieBaba]

Because the killers asked people if they believed in God?

 

[Luissa]

Anyone who listens to what Michael Moore has to say about anything has bigger issues than we see here.

"May 15 - As explosions and gunfire thundered through the halls of Columbine High, Cassie Bernall closed her eyes and clasped her hands in prayer. One of the killers pointed a shotgun at her and asked if she believed in God.

Yes, she said.

And then he killed her."
The Denver Post Online - Columbine - Tragedy and Recovery

"Eric Harris pointed his gun at Cassie’s face. “Do you believe in God?” he asked. She paused, knowing what a positive answer could mean. “Yes, I do,” she said. He pulled the trigger. She was sent to meet God face-to-face. Harris turned to Val Schnurr and pointed his weapon at her. Do you believe in God?” Val had just witnessed the violent result of a “yes” answer. But she responded truthfully. “Yes.” He shot her, too. But she miraculously survived....

"Out of 12 students randomly killed at Columbine High School on April 20, four were seriously active Catholics and four more were committed Evangelical Christians. Eight out of 12 — two-thirds of the student victims — were serious, involved Christians. These numbers were, apparently, fairly representative of the general population. The students of Columbine High School are, overall, a very religious group."

May/June 1999 - Can We Talk?

They planned to blow up the building but their bombs failed along with the bombs in their cars that were suppose to go off when the people who did survive came out of the building to kill them and the emergency workers who would have arrived to help. They wanted to kill everyone not just the christians. It had nothing to do with religion. He would have shot that girl even if she had not been a christian. And the reason why two thirds of the victims were christian probably had more to do with the fact that two thirds of the student population was christian not because they targeted them due to their religion.

 

[AllieBaba]

It had something to do with religion or they wouldn't have asked the same question repeatedly.

Nobody really knows. They're dead. You can only go so far with determining the motivation of dead people.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution on EthicsDaily.com

Columbine Was Never About Christian Persecution
By: Michael Spencer Email
Posted: Monday, April 20, 2009 5:29 am



Columbine 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, Spencer writes.


"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."


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, were 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.)......

.....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...............



Follow the link for the entire article.

Not true. One of the girls targeted was asked, "Do you still believe in Jesus?" and when she said yes, she was shot. Twice.

That was proven to be a falsehood.

Please provide link for this.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Because the killers asked people if they believed in God?

The killers had been bullied in school. They asked one student if she was a Christian. Columbine is not a story of Christian persecution.

The article says those who died were representative of the general population of high school students who lived in the area.

 

[AllieBaba]

No, they asked multiple kids if they were Christian. REad the articles.

 

[AllieBaba]

"He is disgusted with the morons around him. These are not the rantings of an angry young man, picked on by jocks until he's not going to take it anymore. These are the rantings of someone with a messianic-grade superiority complex, out to punish the entire human race for its appalling inferiority. It may look like hate, but "It's more about demeaning other people," says Hare."

At last we know why the Columbine killers did it. - By Dave Cullen - Slate Magazine

Gosh, sounds like a few of the superior silver-spooned a-holes that propagate this place.

 

[AllieBaba]

And yet another states she was asked if she believed:

"She was in the library, hiding under a table with her friend Lauren Townsend when they were both shot. One of the shooters asked her if she believed in God.

"I was afraid that if I said yes they would shoot me," she said. "If I said no I would die not professing my faith."

She said yes.

She grew up fast after that day."
Columbine Shooting Anniversary - ABC News

 

[Dis]

Gosh, sounds like a few of the superior silver-spooned a-holes that propagate this place.

Braces a little too tight, Allie?

 

[AllieBaba]

Right on time.

 

[YWN666]

Not true. One of the girls targeted was asked, "Do you still believe in Jesus?" and when she said yes, she was shot. Twice.

That was proven to be a falsehood.

Please provide link for this.

Cassie Bernall Said "Yes" When Asked about her faith by a shooter at Columbine-Disputed!