We thought we had heard every meretricious explanation for the April 20 Columbine High shootings by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, but Barry W. Lynn -- the Methodist pastor who heads Americans United for the Separation of Church and State -- has come up with a new one. "Evidence indicates that the two students who killed their peers, and ultimately themselves at Columbine High felt alienated and ostracized," he explained in a May 19 press release. "We know from experience that school-sponsored religious displays and worship invariably make some students feel like second-class citizens."
There's a name for the Rev. Lynn's notion. It's called "blaming the victim." When the 17-year-old Cassie Bernall answered yes to the question "Do you believe in God?" She was shot through the temple. But apparently she must have deserved it, for she was a pretty, young evangelical who wanted to cut off her long blonde hair to make wigs for cancer victims and who spent her weekends handing out doughnuts and religious tracts to the drug addicts and gang members down in the worst neighborhood of Denver. The 18-year-old Valeen Schnurr was wounded nine times and survives with permanent nerve damage. But perhaps she just got what was coming to her for carrying a Bible around. After weeks of silence, the parents of the murdered Rachel Scott have recently allowed their daughter's story to be told. The 17-year-old was shot in the leg by her giggling classmates, who then asked her if she believed in God. And when she answered yes, they taunted, "Then go be with Him now," and shot her again. But it seems she only got her just deserts. Think how "alienated and ostracized" she must have made those poor boys feel. Why, there ought to be a law against people like Rachel, and Cassie, and Valeen.