-Caveat Lector-
from: AMERICAN ATHEISTS
subject: AANEWS for April 30, 1999
A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S
AANEWS
#565 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4/30/99
http://www.atheists.org
ftp.atheists.org/pub/atheists/
http://www.americanatheist.org
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A Service of AMERICAN ATHEISTS
"For Reason and the First Amendment"
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In This Issue...
* Columbine "healing" out of control?
* Commandments removed from Kansas town hall
* TheistWatch: Alabama dildo ban appeal
* Resources
* About this list...
OUT OF CONTROL? COLUMBINE RELIGIOUS SERVICES OUTRAGE
MINORITY FAITHS, SPUR ACCUSATIONS OF PROSELYTIZING
Has the public "grieving process" gone too far in Littleton, Colorado?
Is the tragic shooting at Columbine High School being exploited as a
full-fledged platform for posturing politicians and an intolerant
religious agenda?
With national media attention still riveted on the events of nearly
two weeks ago, questions are being raised about the media free-for-all
which has dominated the top segment of network news (despite the
background of the war in Kosovo), and the direction of the
orchestrated religious activities which have served to memorialize the
victims. Case in point is the outrage which some Christians, black
and Jewish leaders are now expressing over last Sunday's memorial
service, which attracted 70,000 spectators and was covered live by
CNN.
While national news media is still giving play to the public anguish
over the Littleton shootings, information about the split in religious
ranks is only now beginning to emerge. The story has leaked out only
in a handful of papers, including -- surprisingly -- the Washington
Times, and the Denver Post. A headline running in the Times noted,
"Evangelical tone of memorial spurs backlash," while the Post story --
also running several days after the April 25 service -- declared
"Sunday event offended some."
Rev. Patrick Demmer of the Greater Metro Ministerial Alliance
described the memorial service as "pretty vanilla," adding "No people
of color spoke or sang." And Rev. Marxhausen, head of a Lutheran
congregation in Littleton, complained that after Sunday's service he
was left feeling "hit over the head with Jesus."
Another Alliance member, Rabbi Stephen Foster of the Temple Emanuel,
said that while the entire community was asked to participate in the
high-profile Sunday event, "it turned into an evangelical prayer
service." Foster told the Washington Times, "I've had many complaints
from people saying 'Where were the Jews?' but that's not the issue.
The issue was one of insensitivity to the kind of statements being
made that were exclusively directed to not just Christians, but
fundamentalist Christians." Even more direct was the opinion of Rabbi
Fred Greenspach, the only non-Christian religious leader who
participated in the Sunday event; he termed the service exemplary of
an "ignorant, narrow-minded" brand of Christian doctrine.
Some in the Denver region faith community have taken offense with the
remarks of Rev. Franklin Graham, son of pop culture religious icon
Billy Graham, and those of Jefferson County pastor Gerald Nelson.
Graham echoed the refrain that people could only be saved from
damnation by accepting Jesus Christ. Rev. Nelson told Sunday's
throng about two women imprisoned in a concentration camp during the
Nazi Holocaust, one of whom supposedly accepted Christ. Rabbi Foster
described this story as "pretty offensive," and said that he was
particularly insulted with the implication that Christians stood
better odds of surviving the Holocaust than Jews.
Rev. Graham was also taken to task by the president of the Interfaith
Alliance of Colorado. Following Sunday's memorial, Rev. Michael
Carrier told the Denver Post, "I felt like he was trying to terrorize
us into heaven instead of loving us into heaven." He added that the
gathering "was supposed to be for all the people of Colorado and the
nation to find solace, not an evangelical service." Rev. Demmer
concurred, noting "If you have a state memorial service and Franklin
Graham says you have to accept Jesus, you're asking to offend
people..."
Other examples of the heavy emphasis placed on fundamentalist and
evangelical Christianity was the appearance of Christian music stars
Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and Phil Driscoll; Ms. Grant has been
criticized by some Christians for her recent divorce, and what some
claim is a shift in her repertoire from religious content to more
secular pop themes. Two Columbine High students also sang "Columbine,
Friend of Mine," described by the Times newspaper as "a song with a
Christian spiritual message they wrote with help from their pastor."
Staking out a less confrontational attitude on this issue was Rev.
Lucia Guzman of the Colorado Council of Churches. She observed that
the memorial service represented the religious demographics of
Littleton, which was composed mostly of "what you might call
evangelical or independent churches."
Another debate is also emerging, this one focusing on the row of 15
crosses which overlooks the impromptu Columbine memorial. Some note
that there are crosses for the two gunmen, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan
Klebold, 17. During memorial services, though, including Sunday's
activity, only the names of the 13 victims were read aloud, and 13
doves were released as part of the ceremony. Christians seem to be
divided over whether or not Harris and Klebold should be recognized in
any memorial, forgiven for their actions, or damned to hell as agents
of pure evil.
Sunday's event was a clear commingling of public figures and funds
with religious activity. The memorial service took place in a public
park and was organized by Colorado Governor Bill Owens, "a young
Republican with close ties to his state's religious right," according
to a story in the April 26 edition of USA TODAY. Along with preaching
by Franklin Graham and Jerry Nelson, Roman Catholic archbishop Charles
Chaput shared the altar and microphone, as did Vice President Albert
Gore. "Just before the benediction, four Air Force jets roared
overhead, one soaring aloft in the 'missing man' formation," noted USA
TODAY.
Robertson & Co. Still Exploiting Issu
One player in the Columbine High who sees the shootings there as a
burning political issue is Rev. Bruce Porter, pastor of Celebration
Christian Fellowship. Porter officiated at the funeral of victim
Rachel Joy Scott, and urged local teens to "take up the blood-stained
torch" of the murdered students.
Porter was also the guest at a taping yesterday in Virginia Beach,
Virginia of Pat Robertson's "The 700 Club" program. He appeared with
Gordon Robertson, son of the famous religious broadcaster and founder
of the Christian Coalition.
"Prayer in schools was officially reestablished on April 20, 1999,"
Porter declared, "because it was accompanied by bombs and shootings.
It is always the blood of martyrs that acts as rocket fuel for the
church."
Ms.Scott, a 17-year old junior at Columbine, was eulogized as a
religious girl who had considered a calling to be a missionary.
According to the Virginian-Pilot newspaper, she was a member of a
youth group at the Orchard Road Christian Center in Littleton.
Porter told the "700 Club" audience that the government had "failed"
the Columbine victims. "The police have failed them. We as parents
have failed them... It's time for Christian students to stand up."
Porter added, "I would tell them (teen agers) that they have to become
intolerant of evil in the midst... We must as a nation become
intolerant of those who advocate evil."
Robertson used the occasion to note that Christian Broadcasting
Network was donating more than 1,000 copies of its new edition of the
Bible to be distributed to homes in Littleton. "Young people feel
alienated," he declared. "Lord, change their hearts. Send messengers
from your heart to preach the good news to them."
Meanwhile, Robertson's media machine continues to drum out the message
that prayer is needed now, more than ever, in the nation's "at risk"
public schools. "The violent storm that tore through the lives of
this Middle American suburb was spawned by a failing post-Christian
nation unwittingly turned against its own young," declared CBN
reporter Michael Patrick. "We are often blind to how our kids are
caught in a hail of murderous images by what Pope John Paul II called
a 'culture of death.'" Patrick's report included the dramatic
accusation, "Drip by drip, our children are slowly poisoned by toxic
images in the media and entertainment ... A teenage gang copycats a
violent movie, while the film's producers hide behind the First
Amendment and blame free market appetites..."
Patrick also quotes Wall Street Journal columnist and author Peggy
Noonan, who supposedly refutes the argument that parents and others
are empowered to avoid violent images by changing viewing habits.
"There is no channel to change to." Patrick adds, "From shock jocks
on radio to comedy witchcraft, much of our entertainment winks and
snickers along with evil and sneers at what is good."
CBN has also become a platform for further denunciations of
"rebellious" youth, including the "Goth" subculture mentioned in the
early days of the Columbine shootings coverage. Noting that Columbine
High School boasted an "active Christian youth community," Patrick
adds that in many public schools, "God is less popular or welcome than
the so-called 'Goths'."
The School Prayer "Fix"
Media pundits, religious leaders and politicians continue to focus on
a dazzling array of causative agents which may have had a role in
prompting Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to open fire on fellow
students and teachers. The ready availability of guns, violent movies
and video games, rejection by peers (including females), the internet
-- all have been put under the 15-seconds-of-fame microscope of media
scrutiny; there seems to be little consensus, though, as to the "why"
behind this story.
The interplay of complex variables, or the more disturbing prospect
that we may never know for certain what motivated the two youngsters
behind the Columbine High slayings has not stopped proponents of the
"school prayer fix" from advancing their claim that solutions to
manifold social problems may be found by instituting religiosity and
faith into the environment of the public school system. Since the
battery of early-1960s Supreme Court cases such as MURRAY vl.
CURLETT, ENGLE v. VITALE and others which struck down the practice of
mandatory prayer and Bible verse recitation in classrooms, prayer
supporters have attempted to correlate that legal breakthrough with
rising rates of juvenile delinquency, drug use, pregnancy and other
social indicators.
There is no evidence that the flood of letters to newspaper opinions
columns, calls to afternoon radio talk shows, or op-ed pieces by
columnists is generating any momentum for a school prayer amendment on
capitol hill -- at least yet. But there is a significant outcry for
school prayer, not just from the country's religious right, but
commentators such as Betsy Hart, a contributor to CNN and the Fox News
Channel. In her current column, "The need for prayer in schools,"
Hart criticizes "the ACLU's best attempts in recent decades to ban
religion-specific prayer and other similar religious references and
activities from the public classrooms." Hart likewise repeats the
Christian "horror stories" about students not being permitted for wear
tee shirts with Christian slogans, or the case of a youngster
ostensibly prohibited from mentioning Jesus in an essay -- tales which
have been called into question for their accuracy before -- and
describes this as part of a "successful crusade" to thwart religious
expression by students. She also praised the decision of school
officials to attend last Sunday's memorial service in Littleton, "what
might ordinarily be perceived by civil libertarians as a violation of
the separation of church and state doctrine..." A harsher judgment
was made by a letter writer to the Birmingham (Alabama) News, who
charged "I'll bet the American atheists (sic) are having a ball now...
The Denver school killings surely are something atheists rejoice in."
A Martyr For The Cause Of Belief
While most media has stopped short of claiming that Harris and Klebold
targeted only religious students in the bloody rampage, commentators
and faith propagandists are singling out the case of 17-year old
victim Cassie Bernall. According to accounts, in the midst of the
shooting, Bernall was reportedly asked by one of the gunmen whether
she believed in god. She responded that she did, and was then shot.
Her family told reporters, "Her life was rightly centered around our
lord Jesus. It was for her strong faith in God and His promise of
eternal life that made her stand."
Bernall was profiled in one CNN piece as a "troubled youth" who was
placed into a strict Christian behavior-modification program at about
age 15; she emerged as a religious youngster, thus typifying the
paradigm of a rebellious and defiant teen supposedly transformed by
religious indoctrination. At her funeral last Monday, she was
eulogized by a minister: "Cassie died a martyr's death. She went to
the martyr's hall of fame." Franklin Graham singled out Bernall in
his oration at the Sunday memorial service in Littleton, as did Vice
President Gore who insisted that adults should find inspiration from
Bernall's "spiritual courage."
**
KANSAS TOWN VOTES TO REMOVE TEN COMMANDMENTS
City officials in Manhattan, Kansas voted Tuesday to remove a Ten
Commandments "monolith" from the front of the city hall. The 3-2 vote
returned the monument to the local Fraternal Order of Eagles club,
which donated it to the city government in 1958. According to the
Manhattan Mercury newspaper, the group says that it intends to keep
the Decalogue and display it at the club's lodge.
But this is not necessarily the end of the matter. The ACLU had filed
suit against the Commandment's display, but one of the plaintiffs,
Lyman Baker, insists that Manhattan officials still must admit that
Commandments violated the First Amendment. Baker also wants the city
to pledge that it will not reinstate the monument in the future, and
will reimburse ACLU for its legal expenses.
Enter televangelist Pat Robertson and his legal arm, the American
Center for Law and Justice. ACLJ spokesmen say that their group is
still willing to support the city on any appeal, and will resist any
attempt to compel the municipality to admit wrongdoing. Meanwhile,
the slab of Commandments was relocated on Wednesday, and taken to the
Eagles lodge where it rests on boards behind the building. The
president of Manhattan Christian College says that his school is
interested in obtaining the monolith, and has already found a location
for it on campus, should the Eagles wish to donate it.
**
THEISTWATCH SHORT SHOTS
Responding to a tidal wave of "voucher" fever, Pennsylvania Governor
Tom Ridge met with parents and other "school choice" advocates
yesterday and urged them to make their voices heard. "The time is
now," Ridge told the voucher boosters to pressure state legislators
for more aid to private and religious schools, and enact his
Educational Opportunity Grants and Academic Recovery Act programs.
Under the grant proposal, "scholarships" would be available to
eligible families in seven counties and eight municipalities. The
grants would be available to families for use at any public, private
or religious schools, and could be used even if their children
currently do not attend public schools. The first year of the program
will cost taxpayers $63.6 million -- less than one percent of the
state's educational budget -- but, say critics, a windfall for private
schools, including the Roman Catholic school system.
The Academic Recovery Act proposal would follow the lead of a similar
scheme in Florida, and identify "problem" school districts where
academic performance is below acceptable levels. Parents in those
districts could then opt-out of the public schools.
Critics charge that as with other voucher schemes, the Ridge plan
diverts money from the public budget into religious institutions, thus
violating the separation of church and state.
**
The Florida legislature has approved the only statewide program in the
nation that will permit students to attend private and religious
schools at public expense. A school voucher bill cleared the Senate
25-15 on Friday, and the House approved its version of the measure
last Wednesday, in a 70-48 vote.
The move is likely to spark a constitutional challenge on vouchers,
especially since Maine's Supreme Judicial Court ruled last week that
voucher programs which cover tuition to parochial schools violate the
establishment clause of the First Amendment. Opponents in Florida and
elsewhere have argued that tuition vouchers also drain money from
cash-strapped public school systems. Rep. Steve Geller told
Associated Press, "What I believe is this is the beginning of the end
for public education."
**
Ever the vigilant guardian of that elusive phantom, "public morality,"
Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor says that he will appeal a court
decision striking down a state law which banned the sale of dildos and
other devices marketed "primarily for the stimulation of human genital
organs."
"I didn't write this law. I didn't draft it. But it's my
constitutional duty to defend it," gushed Pryor, while urging the
legislator to strike the language from the 1998 statute which targets
dildos, ribbed condoms and other apparatuses.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith ruled that the state
has no proper and legitimate interest in banning such devices, and
described the statute's language as "overly broad." The law had been
challenged by six women, including two who sold the devices -- one at
private home parties, the other through her stores in Huntsville and
Decatur. A manager of one of the outlets described Pryor's decision
to waste public money in defending the invasive law as "absolutely
ridiculous."
Mr. Pryor is suggesting that the current law be changed to instead
target "any obscene material," which according to Associated Press
could include sex toys; he urged solons in the current legislative
session to begin work on the revision. State Senator Tom Butler,
(D-Huntsville), the author of the original "dildo ban," said that he
would support any changes recommended by the Attorney General's
office.
The ban was part of a law designed to shut down strip clubs and
similar entertainment venues throughout the state. It enjoyed the
support of a number of religious right groups and leaders, one of whom
suggested that dildos corrupted marriages and resulted in debauchery
and promiscuity.
**
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