Reddit reviews The Martyrs of Columbine: Faith and the Politics of Tragedy

/u/QueerCalamari made two excellent posts about Eric and Dylan in relation to religion in this thread, which I wholly subscribe to and feel no need to add something to.

I would instead like to add more of a.. background observation of religion and Columbine, if you will? Littleton was and is home to a huge religious community, which Eric and Dylan commented on with frustration at times. I believe that this frustration comes out most in the basement tapes, such as Eric mockingly going "I love Jesus, I love Jesus" and following that up with a "shut the fuck up" and worse, but it also shows in how religion-oriented some of their quotes on the day itself turned out. To me, it's like they walked into that school and essentially went "where is your God now? we are your new Gods and we decide if you live or die". The fact that they spared certain people, such as John Savage, lends even more credence to the idea that they were 'playing God'.

However, I think that the relationship between religion and Columbine perhaps comes forth clearest in the aftermath of the massacre. Faith took central stage in some parts of the media and the crosses memorial sparked a lot of discussion about faith and forgiveness at the time as well. They spoke more of Dylan's religious affiliations than they did Eric's, but also spoke about martyrdom at length despite the fact that the evidence does not support this. Even today, Cassie and Rachel are hailed as Christian martyrs -- something that may seem baffling to those of us not as hardwired into a religious community such as Littleton, but something that isn't surprising to those who claimed that the Devil himself came to Littleton. I would recommend the book The Martyrs of Columbine: Faith and the Politics of Tragedy as an additional view on the latter. I have always loved the article Two Pastors Haunted by Columbine because it gives you a window of insight into how religious leaders within the community approached the tragedy. I also just now found this article that mentions some of the religious aspects of the whole thing while also just being a wonderful insight into the case itself.

Columbine is entrenched in religion. That's the bottom line of it. I don't think that it's possible to comprehend the kind of alienation and anger Eric and Dylan felt toward their community without also learning about the religious aspects that permeated every part of everyday life in Littleton. Their antagonism toward Christianity in particular is a direct result of how Christianity invaded every part of their environment and became this 'exclusive club' that you had to be a member of in order to truly belong. In my opinion, reading about the atmosphere and environment that Eric and Dylan lived in for so long and reading about the massacre's aftermath in relation to the religious community is essential to understanding one of the key motivators for the massacre. Eric and Dylan felt an obligation to kill, absolutely, and they 'unseated God' in their actions. To them, it was a transformative act. To those left behind, it was an act of the Devil.