Columbine's Christian Martyrdom Never Happened

The media slobbered all over Columbine high school student Cassie Bernall's faith in god. Cassie said "yes" when asked if she believed in god, and was shot because of her faith. Cassie's faith in the face of death made her the newest Christian martyr. Her story confirmed the Christian idea that Satan is real and causes atheists to persecute Christians.

While Cassie's murder is a tragedy, there is a problem with her martyrdom -- it never happened. What really happened was exactly opposite, and it didn't happen to Cassie.

Salon magazine, the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post tell the stories of the girl under the table with Cassie, the Sheriff's doubts, and the girl from which Cassie's myth grew. [Read the stories]

Sheriff investigators had been saying unofficially they were unable to confirm Cassie's martyrdom. Witnesses' stories were inconsistent. The primary witness pointed out the wrong table for where Cassie was shot. These doubts were shared with Cassie's parents.

Emily Wyant and Cassie Bernall were together alone at the back of the library. They got under a table when the shooters burst in and started shooting. "Dear God. Dear God. Why is this happening?" is what Emily heard Cassie say. Then, Dylan Klebold banged on the table, looked underneath and yelled "Peekaboo." He shot Cassie without them exchanging a word.

Emily later had dinner with Cassie's parents and told them Cassie's real story. Cassie's parents now deny that Emily said the popular myth about Cassie was false. Emily also told the Rocky Mountain News what happened five months before the News ran her story.

The Rocky Mountain News finally ran Emily's story two weeks after an article on Cassie's mother's book, "She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall." The book has 350,000 copies in print and was recently number 14 on the Publisher's Weekly best seller list.

Yep, the News promoted a book about Cassie's martyrdom four and a half months after Emily Wyant told them it never happened. But, where did the martyrdom myth come from?

Cassie's myth came from one Christian student. He apparently heard Valeen Schnurr talking with one of the shooters. Valeen's story has now appeared in the Denver Post.

Valeen was bleeding from 34 shotgun pellets. She was down on her hands and knees saying, "Oh, my god, my god, don't let me die." One of the shooters then asked her if she believed in god. Valeen said yes. He asked why. "Because I believe and my parents brought me up that way," Valeen responded. The shooter reloaded, but did not shoot Valeen again.

Cassie's Christian martyrdom not only did not happen, what really happened was exactly opposite. The shooters were not targeting Christians. A Christian was not killed for professing their faith, but a Christian that professed faith was spared.

The Columbine killings had nothing to do with Christianity. That has not stopped Christians from exploiting a lie to advance Christianity, demonizing atheists, and proclaiming Christianity as the cure for violence.

You can bet the truth will never get the publicity of a popular Christian lie. You can bet Cassie's mom will keep selling her book. You can bet preachers will keep using a lie to get money and converts.

The good news is that America sees a living example of Christians creating mythological "truth" from lies. For the sane, the myth of Cassie's martyrdom shows the unreliability of Christian myths that are unsupported by evidence.

If we can watch here and now Christians rejecting the truth when the evidence is fresh and readily available, then we are fully justified in rejecting old Christian myths that are unsupported by outside evidence.

Why should anyone trust anything said or believed by people who invent lies and reject truth? Why should you trust anything the media says positive about Christian faith or magic?

by Howard Thompson. This article first appeared in the November 3, 1999 issue (#35) of The Texas Atheist , an independent, free e-mail newsletter. Copyright © 1999 by Howard Thompson