-Caveat Lector-
from: AMERICAN ATHEISTS
subject: AANEWS for May 16, 1999
A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S
AANEWS
#572 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5/16/99
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...
* With graduations, schools need to avoid baccalaureate violations
* Shooting victim being transformed into martyr by churches, media
* TheistWatch: religious attendance, beliefs questioned
* Resources
* About this list...
BACCALAUREATE SERVICES MAY VIOLATE FIRST AMENDMENT
With summer high school graduation ceremonies looming, school
districts across the country face an important question: should they
organize or promote baccalaureate services? "Mention baccalaureate
and most high school principals will have to dig deep into their
memories to recall the services of hymns, worship and sermons," notes
today's issue of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. There is evidence,
though, that baccalaureate services are making a comeback, fueled in
part with the desire by faith and other community groups to infuse
religion into the secular ceremonial aura of graduation ceremonies.
Baccalaureates were once an institution in American culture; they
usually took place prior to official school graduation ceremonies,
often in a church. They were frequently mandatory for students, and
included sermons, prayers, choir singing and inspirational "messages"
laced with overt religious themes.
That began to change, though, in the early 1960s. First, the U.S.
Supreme Court struck down government-composed prayer in the 1962 ENGEL
v. VITALE case. That meant that school boards or other government
officials could not be working with religious groups to invent a
"nondenominational" prayer which students would recite or be subjected
to. Coercive prayer and bible verse recitation officially remained in
the schools, though, until 1963, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck
down the practices in a decision which combined MURRAY v. CURLETT
with ABINGTON TOWNSHIP SCHOOL DISTRICT v. SCHEMPP.
That was the death blow -- at least in the law books -- to "official"
prayer, unison bible verse reading, sermonizing and other religious
rituals in the public schools. Resistance to the ruling continued
throughout the country, but gradually those practices were eroded. So
was the tradition of the baccalaureate. Along with legal strictures
that limited how far school and community officials could go in
organizing baccalaureate events, there was also the fact that, as
noted by the Dispatch newspaper, "kids stopped coming." Prayer and
devotional readings continued in isolated cases, and often stopped
only after school officials were threatened with legal action, or
actually challenged with a suit.
There is growing evidence, though, that the baccalaureate ceremony may
be making a comeback, encouraged partly by faith-based groups seeking
to add a religious component to the secular rite of passage known as
graduation. It is a trend that puts schools in the awkward position
of possibly encouraging religious observance, and it could end up
eroding protections of students and parents who may feel pressured
into practices contrary to their own convictions.
Guidelines: What Schools Can And Cannot Do
As with any other faith-based activity, public schools are legally
restrained from promoting baccalaureate services which have a
religious component. They may not spend money on such exercises, or
give the appearance of actively endorsing or promoting the event.
Teachers and school officials may not pressure students into attending
a baccalaureate service, nor can they punish students who refuse to
participate.
Most baccalaureates take place off campus in a neighborhood church or
hall. Public schools may not "donate" auditoriums or other facilities
for the baccalaureate; a school hall may be rented, although such an
action could face court review by a plaintiff who argues that the
proximity of the baccalaureate service gives the appearance of
official school endorsement.
School officials should not be promoting the baccalaureate, or in any
way attempting to encourage the perception that it is an "official"
activity sanctioned by a school district. There is a legal "gray
area," though. In Lockhard, Texas for instance, the local high school
web site was used to promote the 1998 baccalaureate service held at a
local Methodist Church. Addresses were delivered by two ministers,
and the "school official" was identified as the principal.
Atheist and separationist parents, and students, cannot be compelled
to support or attend religious baccalaureate events. Nor should
public resources be used to expended; this includes promotional
announcements or the use of monies or physical facilities. Groups may
attempt to promote the baccalaureate as an "official" event; but they
are clearly an activity where those who do not wish to attend cannot
and should not be required to do so.
**
CHILD EXPLOITATION? THE "MARTYRDOM" OF CASSIE BERNALL
What was clearly a tragedy is now being exploited by religious groups
seeking to transform a 17-year old victim of last month's Columbine
High School shootings into a modern-day "martyr" for her Christian
faith. Religious web sites, news stories, sermons, television
programs and other media all praise Cassie Bernall for her affirmation
of religious belief in a tale which is rapidly becoming an American
legend.
Bernall was known for carrying a Bible to school regularly, and
sporting the popular "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelet worn by a
religious youngsters. She was reportedly reading Shakespeare in the
library of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on Tuesday,
April when two other students -- identified as Eric Harris, 18 and
Dylan Klebold, 17 -- burst in with guns. In all, 12 students and one
teacher died in the murder spree, but Bernall's story stands out
because of the circumstances. According to news reports, one of the
gunmen asked for "those who believe in God" to stand up, and then
pointing his weapon at Bernall. He asked, "Do you believe in Jesus?"
Bernall responded, "Yes, I love Jesus." The gunman then asked her
"Why? and pulled the trigger.
The account, widely reported in the press, could be apocryphal. Or,
the events may have actually occurred, although witness accounts --
especially recalled from the midst of violent, life-threatening
calamity -- tend to be skewed, inaccurate and misleading. What is
clear, though, is that many Americans believe the circumstances
surrounding the death of Ms. Bernall to be as claimed, and are in the
process of construct a mythos that the 17-year old high school student
"died for her faith." One youngster interviewed by a local television
station near Littleton told reporters that she was taking Bernall's
name for her confirmation, and that Cassie is "a martyr because she
stood up for God and she died that way."
The sentiment has been echoed in sermons, tracts and on web sites
dedicated to Bernall, or the memories of the other victims at
Columbine. "Her life was centered around Our Lord Jesus. It was
(because of) her strong faith in God and His promise of eternal life
that she made her stand," declared a pastor who preached one of the
memorial services for the dead students. Some of the dedications may
embellish what happened in the final moments of Bernall's life; one
news report circulated by Associated Press said that the girl "closed
her eyes and clasped her hands in prayer" as the gunshot was leveled
at her.
A "Bad Girl" Turned "Good"
The aura surrounding Cassie Bernall is enhanced by other factors, as
well. In a statement, the Bernall family noted, "Her life was rightly
centered around our Lord Jesus. It was for her strong faith in God
and His promise of eternal life that she made her stand." But the
"martyr" status of Bernall is magnified by the fact that she was once
a "rebellious" youngster who converted to Christian evangelism.
"Like most teen-age girls," reported Associated Press, "Ms. Bernall
fretted about boys, her weight and being popular. A few years ago,
the blue-eyed blonde fell in with the wrong crowd. She dabbled in
witchcraft and was fascinated with suicide." Her parents reportedly
then placed her in what CNN described as a "strict program"at West
Bowles Community Church, an Evangelical Presbyterian group. The
youngster was described as rebellious and unruly. "Under protest, Ms.
Bernall joined the church's youth group, where her anger gradually
subsided. About two years ago, she returned from a retreat as a
converted Christian..." From there, says the church's youth pastor,
Dave McPherson, Bernall began a regimen of regular Bible reading and
prayer.
The Bernall story finds more credence as it is repeated and elaborated
within America's religious subcultures, and the former Columbine
student is embraced as a modern-day "martyr" in an increasingly
secular and disorienting world. An official with the National Network
of Youth Ministries noted, "Cassie is being seen as a hero." Other
stories are being recounted as well, including one reported in the
Boston Globe. It claims that on the night of her death, Bernall's
brother found a poem that she had written two days prior to the
shootings. It spoke of finding the only way "To really know Christ
and to experience The mighty power that brought Him back to life
again..."
Charles Colson, former Watergate crook-turned-evangelical and head of
Prison Fellowship Ministries, cited Bernall's death and her poem in an
essay "Remembering the Brave in Heart."
"It was a test all of us would hope to pass, but none of us really
wants to take," wrote Colson, describing the events at Columbine. He
noted that while media had centered on the possible motivation of the
two student gunmen and their hostility toward racial minorities and
athletes, "There was another group the pair hated every bit as much,
if not more: Christians..." The praise for Bernall is repeated, even
amplified with the claim that the "17-year old junior with long blond
hair" wanted to have her locks "cut off and made into wigs for cancer
patients who had lost their hair through chemotherapy." Whereas most
media accounts so far place Ms. Bernall in the school library perusing
Shakespeare when Harris and Klebold began their rampage, Colson --
without citing sources -- declares: "Cassie was in the school library
reading her Bible..." He added: "Cassie's martyrdom was even more
remarkable when you consider than just a few years ago she had dabbled
in the occult, including witchcraft. She had embraced the same
darkness and nihilism that drove her killers to such despicable
acts..."
The fallout from the shootings and specifically Bernall's reported act
of religious heroism resulted in rising church attendance at West
Bowles Community Church and elsewhere. ABC's "This Week" program of
Sunday, May 2 noted "Colorado students flocking to churches and to
prayer services..." News analyst Bill Kristol observed, "In churches
across America today, ministers are priests are trying to make sense
of this (the Littleton shootings)..."
"Making sense" of the Columbine massacres has involved considerable
rationalizing for most religious commentators who easily explain the
motivation of Klebold and Harris -(placing the responsibility on
everything from "sin" to the devil, video games, fascination with
guns, the occult, violence, nazism), but are less clear regarding the
fate of Cassie Bernall and the other victims. "Couldn't God have
prevented this?," asks one web site established to memorialize the
Columbine students. "Certainly God could have prevented the Columbine
massacre, but he chose to ALLOW it, just as He chose to ALLOW His Son
to be put to death on our behalf." Matthew 26 is quoted, where Jesus,
upon his arrest reportedly utters "Do you think I cannot call on my
Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve
legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled
that say it must happen in this way?" The crucial difference here,
though, is that Ms. Bernall did not have recourse to such alleged
alternatives.
Cassie Bernall's place in the Littleton tragedy, though, is being
firmly fixed in the popular imagination. Pastor McPherson believes
that her death "will lead more people toward Christ." Web sites
dedicated to the late student's memory display a range of reactions,
from respectful acknowledgment of her heroism to those which show her
countenance suspended in clouds with the legend "Believe In Jesus"
written below.
But nagging questions remain about all of this. A story appearing in
the Los Angeles observed, "Whether Bernall was, in fact, killed
specifically because of her faith will probably never be known for
sure." Writer Larry Stammer notes that the initial survivors'
accounts stated that one of the gunmen had asked a girl -- who was
later identified as Bernall -- if she believed in God, and shot her
after she replied "Yes."
"Later accounts, reported in some media, had the killer responding
'there is no God' before pulling the trigger..." Stammer observes
that the Bernall story is elaborated and distorted through repeated
oral communication. Certainly the misstatements in Colson's account
-- that Bernall was "reading her Bible" when the gunmen entered the
library -- is, for some, more glamorous and inspirational than other
reports that Ms. Bernall was likely studying for a literature test.
Josh McDowell, who heads a nationwide ministry operating out of
Dallas, Texas, says that he has seen a reaction from the Columbine
shootings as he tours the country speaking to various groups. "I
think the young Cassie's life is going to probably have a more
phenomenal impact upon young people over the next 10 years than
anything I've seen in the last 10 or 15 years," McDowell told the Los
Angeles Times. Stammer notes the factors which may be contributing
this, including the growing emphasis which some evangelical sects and
outreaches are placing on "martyrdom," as well as an insatiable public
appetitive for heroes of all sorts. Wade Roof, author of the 1993
book "A Generation of Seekers," notes the search for such heroic
figures "is a pretty powerful human kind of thing."
"For many young people this young woman (Bernall) emerges as a very
strong figure."
Randall Balmer, an evangelical writer and author of the praised PBS
series "Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory" is more cautionary, and warns
that out of the Bernall story, "there is a danger of sensationalizing
this for propagandistic sorts of purposes." And Union Theological
Seminary scholar Frederick W. Weidmann warns that religious leaders
should be careful "not to whip people up into thinking one ought to
seek out a martyr's death as the most authentic expression of
Christianity."
There could be other unintended consequences stemming from this
pop-culture movement to canonize Cassie Bernall. Whatever legitimate
meaning some Christians might derive from her faith, there is the
danger of energized "prayer warriors" seeing Bernall's life and death
as a fiat to become more aggressive in "winning souls for Christ," and
being less tolerant of those who might disagree with their emotionally
charged message of purity and salvation. Students, teachers, parents
and others not signing on to this muscular evangelical agenda could be
stereotyped, marginalized or targeted in their own way, thus
re-enforcing an "us" versus "them" view of reality. In an age
desperately in need of tolerance and understanding, the memory of a
young woman who died so senselessly deserves better -- regardless of
her own religious beliefs.
**
THEISTWATCH SHORT SHOTS
Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer has announced that it will not
sell the "morning after" contraception pill that can be taken for up
to 72 hours following intercourse by women wanting to avoid pregnancy.
A spokesman for the company said that "many factors" were considered
before the final decision was made not to carry Preven, a drug
approved last year by the FDA. Preven is not the same as RU-486,
which is used in Europe and can be taken any time during the first
seven weeks of a pregnancy to induce abortion.
Gloria Feldt of the Planned Parenthood Federation criticized the
retailer's move, saying "Pharmacies have a moral obligation to provide
health care to women, and frankly, emergency contraception prevents
unintended pregnancies." She noted that the chain "has been selling
birth-control pills for many years."
The group Pharmacists for Life International had asked Wal-Mart to not
sell Preven, saying that the drug aborts a fertilized egg. But
Gynetics, Inc, which manufactures the pill, says that it does not
cause abortion, but prevents ovulation and prevents fertilized eggs
from implanting in the walls of the uterus.
**
Is it accurate, or just another case of flawed studies and poorly
controlled surveys? This morning's edition of the Charlotte Observer
newspaper notes, "two recent polls show that when it comes to
religious faith, the South remains a different place..." According to
University of North Carolina Professor John Shelton Reed of the
Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, 61% of Southerners and
51% of non-Southerners attend church or other religious services two
or three times a month, or more. He also claims that 46.8% of
Southerners, and 31% of non-Southerners have "read the Bible at home"
in the past week.
But Charlotte American Atheists activist Jim Senyszyn questions those
figures. In a letter to the Charlotte Observer, he suggests that the
survey results "seem inflated" and that the figures which support
claims of Southern religiosity "are high compared to most polls which
show 40% of Americans go to church during the course of a year." He
adds that skeptics question even this 40% figure, and cites the
prevalence of "empty pew syndrome," declining numbers of parishes and
those bothering to enter the ranks of the faith profession.
Indeed, the IRSS survey may suffer from the same flaws as many other
studies. A recent analysis by sociologist Stanley Presser of the
University of Maryland and Linda Stinson of the Labor Department found
that many Americans misrepresent their real churchgoing habits. They
conclude that the 40% figure is really now more around 26%. Other
research has noted the "embarrassment" respondents might feel in
answering queries about church going, especially if interviewed.
Dr. Shelton has other interesting figures, though. He says that
67.7% of Southerners accept a "biblical account of creation" compared
to a national response of 50.6%. 61% of Dixie denizens believe that
"people on Earth sometimes are possessed by the devil," compared to
only 43.7% of those outside the former Confederacy. A whopping 46.4%
say they have "personally experienced having an illness cured by
prayer."
47.8% agree that "The United States is a Christian country, and the
government should make laws to keep it that way" --an opinion shared
by 32.5% of non-Southerners. Jesus will return to Earth someday,
insist 78.2% (62.4% of non-Southerners). But if these statistics are
anywhere close to accurate, well, there is at least evidence of some
progress. Only 29% agreed that "by and large the husband should have
the main say-so" in a marriage. Curiously, only 36.9% of Southerners
believed that UFOs are real, compared to 42.3% of non-Southerners.
Credulity seems to be widespread, even if the individual
manifestations and beliefs vary.
**
Religious mythology has invented many strange places, realms,
creatures and forces, but few seem as absurd as the Roman Catholic
teaching of "a place called Limbo." The Vatican preaches that only
those who have been baptized into the Catholic faith ever make it past
St. Peter's Pearly Gates into Heaven. Serious sinners end up serving
an eternal sentence in Hell, minor offenders are subjected to a period
of torture and torment in Purgatory. But what about those newly born
babies or others in similar circumstances who die prior to the baptism
rite?
Prior to 1992, church teachings claimed that the souls of these
unfortunate juveniles are consigned to a sort of cosmic netherworld
called Limbo. Souls there "do not enjoy the presence of God, but
neither do they suffer," declared one Catholic theologian.
Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper now reports that the concept of
Limbo is coming under attack. The church conveniently omitted any
reference when it issued a revised catechism in 1992, but that does
not seem to be stemming the tide of criticism from those who say that
Limbo -- wherever it is -- is out of place as is "no longer regarded
as relevant to modern Christianity."
The Catholic paper Avvenire received an influx of letter following
publication of series of articles, "Where has limbo been hidden?"
"This issue is a real problem for many people, particularly those
whose children die young or for young women who have abortions, which
is another grey area," declared Avvenire editor Roberto Beretta. "The
Church is stuck with a contradiction... On one hand it maintains that
Baptism is necessary for salvation. On the other, it is aware that
popular sentiment believes utterly in the innocence of unbaptised
children and in their right to paradise."
Whatever. Monsignor Alessandro Maggliolini, Bishop of Como who was on
the ecclesiastical panel that conveniently chose to omit Limbo from
the 1992 catechism has "refused to rule out definitively the
existence" of this spiritual halfway point suspended, presumably,
somewhere equidistant between Paradise and Damnation. "It's wise not
to insist too much on a kind of geography of the beyond," he says,
"given that we are not capable of understanding its mysteries. It's
best to shut up about what we don't know about." Agreed ... but
perhaps the Church should apply that same wisdom to much if not all of
its remaining corpus of teaching and belief.
Populist Catholics may think that "Limbo" can be plucked from
existence by popular vote or papal decree. But what about other
Catholic teachings? God? Heaven? Hell?
**
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