When Thomas Jefferson's original tombstone, a granite obelisk that was given to the University of Missouri in 1885, was slated for restoration a scant three years ago, the university could not have been prouder of owning such an important artifact of a Founding Father.
Indeed, seizing upon the moment, the Mizzou press office issued a release touting ties with the Sage of Monticello: It noted that the University of Missouri was the first public university in the Louisiana Purchase Territory (for which Jefferson was chiefly responsible) and that its curriculum had been modeled on Mr. Jefferson's ideas about education.
Evil may issue a challenge one day. We may be asked to renounce our faith, whether it is based in Islam, Judaism, Christianity or any other religion. Only at that moment would each of us know, for sure, whether we would die before denying what we believe to appease a maniac.
For people killed last Thursday at Oregon's Umpqua Community College, it wasn't some distant hypothetical. A deranged gunman asked them, "Are you Christian?" Those who said "yes" were told "you are going to see God in just about one second." Then he shot them in the head.
