Rachel Joy Scott's Eulogy

"...What has happened to us? How did we get here?"

"We want to honor Rachel, primarily, here. But it's vitally important that we ask ourselves some hard questions: What has happened us as a people, that this should happen to us? What is wrong that such brutality can take place among our children? ...What has happened to us? How did we get here?

"We removed the Ten Commandments from our schools. In exchanged, we've reaped selfish indifference and glorified hedonism.

"We've told our children that they are nothing more than highly evolved amoebae, accidentally brought forth from a mud pool somewhere in time. And we wonder why so many of them see no intrinsic value to life.

"We removed prayer from our schools and we've reaped violence, and hatred, and murder. And we have the fruit of those activities before us now.

"The Duke of Wellington once said, 'If you divorce religion from education, you produce a race of clever devils.' The young men who perpetrated this terrible crime were highly intelligent people. It may interest you to know, because they perpetrated this on Hitler's birthday, that over 40 percent of the German Gestapo had graduate degrees.

"There are many who say that all we need is better education. 'Let's throw more money at schools; let's have Internet and computers, and then we'll be all right' --but it doesn't touch the heart of our children. There's an issue of character here.

"It's so simplistic for us to say, 'Let's remove the weapons of destruction from their hands' and not deal with the hardness and depth of despair in the hearts. This can only be done as Rachel knew: by trusting in a loving and compassionate God.

"Rachel, as you have heard here today, personified the love and grace of God... She was a warrior, but she didn't fight her war with guns... Rachel fought with the implements of love and compassion and caring mercy. She loved everyone she met. But as a warrior, Rachel carried a torch that was stained by the blood of the martyrs from the very first day of the Church's existence in the world nearly 2,000 years ago. This warrior has now dropped that torch and gone on to her eternal reward.

"Young people here today, hear me. I want to issue a challenge to each and every one of you. Don't despair of life. Don't despair of what's happened to you. Rachel carried a torch--a torch of truth, a torch of compassion, a torch of love, a torch of the good news of Jesus Christ her Lord, whom she was not ashamed of, even in her hour of death. I want to lay a challenge before each and every one of you young people here today: The torch has fallen from Rachel's hand. Who will pick it up again? Who will pick up the torch again?

"I am hereby issuing a challenge to every student in every school across this nation. Pick up the torch that Rachel carried. Pick it up and hold it high and stop being a victim. Be proactive, speak to the culture you live in, declare a 'cultural revolution' of compassion and mercy and love and forsake violence. You have the power within your hands, young people...

*NOTE When this challenge was given, hundreds of people suddenly stood to their feet and held up their arms as if holding a torch. Later, we heard from thousands of people from around the world who viewed this challenge via television said they stood up at the same time and pledged to take up Rachel's torch!