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Some may take issue with this but I think it is very important. I may even get in trouble. But sometimes you have to make that sacrifice.

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this, hmm?
On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness... The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA.. I am not a member of the NRA.. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy-it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. "I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:

Your laws ignore our deepest needs, Your words are empty air. You've stripped away our heritage, You've outlawed simple prayer. Now gunshots fill our classrooms, And precious children die. You seek for answers everywhere, And ask the question "Why?" You regulate restrictive laws, Through legislative creed. And yet you fail to understand, That God is what we need!

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, soul, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and reek havoc... Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. "Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.
"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes-He did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America, and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA - I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"

Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can if you believe in what this man has said!!!

wow! how did you get this

this should be moved to the General Discussion forum...not the episode 3 forum. this is spam....talk about it where it is appropriate please.

It was sent to me by a friend outside of the forum. I just thought that there are so many people in here that are around the country that it would find it's way a lot faster this way. I know it's in the wrong topic section but I only go here. So, here it is.

What happen to his daughter is terrible, but from reading that it sounds like he's just trying to use that sympathy for political purposes - to allow prayer back into schools.

He even says right there that the shooting couldn't have been stopped by any metal detectors or gun laws, but somehow praying is going to stop it?

Thanks DARTH DADDY

what does NRA stand for ?

National Rifle Association

thumbsupthanks ; now i can understand it properly

To bad some seem not to get the gravity of the issue. It's spelled out plain and simple. Did we ever have these kinds of issues back 20 or 30 years ago? No. When they would rather teach kids about how to put condoms on, or how Billy has two Daddies. but yet we don't talk about morality. Something is wrong. When a court here in California says that the kids can't recite the Pledge of Allegiance because it has the phrase "under God", something is wrong.

Did they have this shit 20 or 30 years ago? Nope, they had race riots. There's always something shitty going on. Whether it was specifically kids shooting up schools or not is irrelevant, things were just as bad back then, if not worse.

Are you honestly saying that you think they shot up the school cause they teach sexual education and not "morality?" They don't even teach how to put condoms on in school anyway, that's illegal as far as I know. Here in Florida they just teach us abstinence, and it was the same when I lived in North Carolina.

isnt ths the same douchebag who was giving paid speeches at evangelical revivals that his daughter said that she believed in jesus before she was shot? (the girl who actually said that is still alive, I think she was in one of my classes)

Originally posted by DARTH DADDY
To bad some seem not to get the gravity of the issue. It's spelled out plain and simple. Did we ever have these kinds of issues back 20 or 30 years ago? No. When they would rather teach kids about how to put condoms on, or how Billy has two Daddies. but yet we don't talk about morality. Something is wrong. When a court here in California says that the kids can't recite the Pledge of Allegiance because it has the phrase "under God", something is wrong. ]

Well I thought it was unfair, and quite stupid, to have it that to pledge alleigance to America you pledge to the Christian God. I mean, that effectively makes the pledge itself useless to anybody other than Christian - they have no reason to uphold it!

Sounds like a personal essay. Link, please!

Originally posted by Trickster
]

Well I thought it was unfair, and quite stupid, to have it that to pledge alleigance to America you pledge to the Christian God. I mean, that effectively makes the pledge itself useless to anybody other than Christian - they have no reason to uphold it!

You can't please everyone; that's a fact. Something else that's stupid is that a lot of kids don't know the history of the United States. Well they know things like"Nixon was an idiot, and Bush lied", but hardly a word is being spoken about our founding fathers and how many, if not most, of them were Christians.
Of course some will most likely dispute that and say that they were only deists or something but if you actually do some research you will see otherwise.

People, I've lived next to columbine high school, and it's the obnoxious over prevelance of relgion (the school is 75% evangelical) that created the problem in the first place. almost everybody I met from there proselitize you and if you don't agree with their views they call yuo a heathen or a *** and say you'll burn in hell. They have almost as big a problem with homophobia, racism, antisemitism and classism as some of the northeast denver area schools like grandview and overland. It's the forced religion that caused all these problems in the first place.

pff; load of crap. Just because an Atheist, Jew, Moslum, Buddhist, or any other person pisses me off doesn't give me the right to blow their brains out.

no, but take two kids on behavior modifying drugs and harass and beat them mercilessly for four years while the school looks the other way and see what happens.

Thank you for the post Darth Daddy. The post poses important issues in our country. Plus it has allowed me to see how others view these issues. I am not quite sure what the end point was for this post. Prayer in schools is debatable because of all the different religions and those who don't want to have religion imposed on them. Personally I don't think prayer improves one moral fiber or prevents those with violent tendencies to stop from acting out. What is needed is a stronger sense of unity to be established without any religious dogma. the question is how to do that. Religion can't do it alone because those who are so engrossed in their own sects, branches, or religion make no room for other views. I do feel that learning morals is important, but to wrap those morals around the diatribes of establishments that have not had room for others outside of their kind for hundreds of years is difficult. How to unite the country behind ideals and a common goal without resorting to war or one religious belief is the next question.

What kind of a middle name is "joy"? I think I'll have a kid. His middle name will be "Bliss".

Just becuase Columbine happened doesnt mean that we should pray to a Christain god every day in school. Believe me, I respect religion, but no way in hell would I ever pray in class.

growing up when i did, i remember having to say the pledge every morning up until my junior year...and to be honest, saying the pledge meant little to me other than an excuse to prolonge the moment before the lessons began....

as for prayers in class...that with most certainty i never had to do even in public schools.....

but of all the things that irks me to the degree of having a thorn on my side is this business of bringing god into our lives and to our childrens lives as if that were the more important issue other than teaching the children the skills and the necessary education to be productive citizens when adults....

it's as if these religiously saturated people, while of good intentions, forget that society's problems are not solved by prayer or invoking god's help in times of crisis...but by actual communication with others of differing thoughts and beliefs without tainting it with their religious credo....enough already

you want to solve society's problems...then start it at home - parents have to realize that teenagers are on the cusp of change....what these teens need is not an authoritative figure, but someone who'll actually listen and at least try to understand what their problems are....

but then what do i know....i could be spewing verbal diarrhea

Well, i'm not an American, hell, i live East where things are much much simpler. You'll see plenty of goths, "boys from da hood" and other crap like that, but they grow out of it. See over here things are very very different. We don't have all the problems you have and that has nothing to do with religion. Mostly people that live in the countryside are religious, while most that live in the cities aren't.
However, it's a matter of mentality. Hell, when i was a little kid watching american movies where the teenage daughter/son kept arguing with their parents, and kept yelling and shouting i was baffled. Because over here, you don't do stuff like that. You have respect for your parents. Not to mention Westerners are waaaaaaaay too soft on their kids. Over here, "You raised your voice at me? BAM*.
Sure, there's always been fighting in the schoolyard, and cursing, swearing, bla bla bla, but as we grow older we focus on what's more important. Making a living and waking up to reality.
It may sound harsh but it seems to me that there's so much liberalism going on over there that people either try to find a way out, or just become retarded little idiots that wait for their monthly check from mommy and daddy while they pursue their "true self".

~wickerman~