By Cal Thomas*

June 1999 –"What has happened to us and how did we get here?” asked Pastor Bruce Porter of the Trinity Christian Center in Littleton, Colorado. He was eulogizing Rachel Scott, 17, who was the first of the murdered from Columbine High School to be buried. “We’ve removed prayer from our schools and we’ve replaced it with violence, hatred, and murder.”

Bill Bennett made a similarly painful observation on “Meet the Press” last Sunday. He said that if the Colorado killers had been walking the school halls quoting the Bible, instead of quoting Nazi dogma, they would likely have been hauled in for counseling.

But discrimination against serious Christians isn’t new, and while that discrimination rarely rises to the level of murder, the cultural hostility that began with the banning of organized prayer and Bible reading in public schools expresses itself in many other ways.

Students are regularly discriminated against in school when they are given assignments to write about their “favorite” or “most influential” person and they choose Jesus, only to be told He is the one person about whom they may not write. Valedictorians are often told they can’t give God the credit for their academic success.

Tax dollars have gone to subsidize “art” that is blasphemous to Christians, but Christians are told that not a dime can go to anything “religious.”

Examples of discrimination against Christians are legion.

A Winter Haven, Florida, middle school student was told he violated a school policy against wearing messages on T-shirts when he wore one with a religious message. But the school allows T-shirts supporting sports teams or bearing brand names. Still, the student’s father was told to bring in a new T-shirt or take him home. His father came and got him and contacted a lawyer.

In Michigan, the case of Christian landlords who refused to rent an apartment to an unmarried couple because of the landlord’s religious beliefs is being reconsidered by the state supreme court. The court had earlier upheld a ruling by a lower court that the landlords had discriminated against the unmarried couple.

In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a third-grader, told she could perform a favorite song for the school’s talent show, wanted to sing a gospel tune. She was denied the opportunity by the principal because her song was religious. The parents contacted The Rutherford Institute, which defends religious rights cases, and the school relented.

In New Orleans, the ACLU threatened legal action against the Tangipahoa Parish School System for inviting a religious speaker to its lunch club. The school allows many diverse, non-curricular student clubs, and attorneys for the school district have so far managed to hold off legal action.

In Bothell, Washington, a pregnant woman was allegedly forced off a bus during a storm for talking about her faith with another passenger, who expressed similar sentiments. The bus driver was said to have been offended by the religious nature of their conversation.

President Clinton alluded to a “hunting culture” that contributes to such shootings in schools. But there’s not necessarily a direct connection between hunting and gunning down fellow students. However, there is a very real threat to Christians. Seventeen-year-old Cassie Bernall could tell you that if she was still with us. She was the Columbine student who was asked by one of the killers if she believed in God. When she said she did, she was dispatched into His care, a martyr to her faith.  

* Cal Thomas is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. The address is 218 Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.