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When I returned to Littleton in January 2000, six months after my initial trip, I sensed that healing was taking place. The grief, though evident, was not as raw, and the community seemed more normal. The families of those who had died had navigated the first holiday season without their loved ones, and the survivors had reconfigured their lives, learning to live in wheelchairs, with leg braces, with disfiguring scars, or with chronic pain from bullets too deep to remove.

The healing of internal wounds was less measurable and more complicated. Columbine High School's status as a public institution placed limits on what healing activities could be officially sanctioned. Notions such as "educating" kids to respect others and learning "tolerance" abounded at the school. Official references to prayer, use of religious symbols, and discussions about God were not part of the conversation. It didn't take long before religion became the flashpoint of controversy, first locally and later in broader spheres. The discussion assumed a cantankerous tone following the community memorial service five days after the massacre, and it intensified a larger national debate.

"The entire community was invited to come and mourn, and then it turned into an evangelical prayer service," said Rabbi Steven Foster of Denver's Temple Emanuel. "The issue was one of insensitivity to the kind of statements being made that were exclusively directed not just to Christians but to fundamentalist Christians."

"The consensus was that it was not inclusive to all faith communities," said the Reverend Michael Carrier, president of the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado and pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Littleton.

Dick Wadhams, spokesman for Colorado Governor Bill Owens, called these complaints "inappropriate and groundless," adding, "It is reprehensible that they would try to politicize the memorial service in the immediate aftermath of such a tragedy."

The Reverend Lucia Guzman, executive director of the Colorado Council of Churches (not known for its evangelical sensibilities) noted that "the memorial service was representative of the Columbine community, which is heavily weighted toward 'what you might call evangelical or independent churches.'"

She added, "In no way do I feel I was excluded, but I have many rabbi colleagues who were incensed by the one-sided nature of the service. You can't put the focus on [evangelical Christianity] and then say it was inclusive of the whole community."

Other church leaders, who would number themselves among evangelicals, felt there was a kernel of truth to the criticism. "That service was very openly evangelistic and evangelical," said Bill Oudemolen, senior pastor of Foot-hills Bible Church outside Littleton. "It wasn't a revival meeting, but it was close. Franklin Graham stands up and invites people to put their faith in Jesus. I was comfortable with that, but some mainline denominational people were not. It was a hard sell; it was in your face."

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April 2 2001, Vol. 45, No. 5