Is there a difference between "Sinners will burn in hell if they don't accept Jesus Christ as their Lord" and "Niggers will burn in hell if they don't accept White People as their Master"? Are proselytes advocates of hate speech?
A major intersection on campus is now regularly policed by a group of five fundamentalist christians between the hours of 9 to 12. One man carries a large wooden cross and thumbs the Bible for effect. Two women and a late teenage girl share between them the tasks of carrying two large banners and/or handing our pamphlets. The fifth member of the group looks to be about 10 years old.
Between major class changes they heft their signs and condemn everything in sight.
On my first encounter I noticed only the teenaged girl (with banner/sign screaming about hellfire) and the little boy (handing out pamphlets). At first I attempted to engage the girl in discourse... she was aware of her surroundings. So I asked the boy if he was familiar with the verse "Be not like the Pharisees, preaching on street corners" (which is a misremembrance of Matt 6:5) to which the boy replies rapidly 3 or 4 times "that's not in the bible." I asked if he had a Bible and said that I'd see if I could find it for him. While not specifically declining my offer he proceeded to rapidly recite something about the "spreading the good news" verses fo the Bible. Not caring to get into a debate about whether Jesus meant the command only for the Apostles (which are the only people to whom it was said) or for Christians in general (which is an unsupported interpretation by latter books) I simply suggested that he look it up for himself later, then excused myself for my next class.
The second time I was a bit pressed for time and merely asked if he had looked up the verse as I strolled past.
Because I have about 2 hours between my first and second classes the third time I opted to sit in the shade of some nearby trees and pay close attention to the ringleader and other spectators.
Most people just ignored them. Some actively avoided the intersection. One girl suggested he "Kiss [her] pagan ass" another person suggested he get a job... a comment that resulted in several minutes of him repeating this phrase with comments like "that's so original" or "I've never heard that."
The sermon otherwise focused on how we (college folk) were all going to hell, how we weren't really happy, and how we needed Jesus to overcome our "evil human nature."
I've been trying to resist the temptation of grabbing a copy of the Qu'ran and preaching alongside him, merely replacing his nouns with the proper Islamic terms or perhaps going to expound on some other counterpoint philosophy.
So here's a survey, folks. Should I ridicule the ridiculous or merely let them be? E-mail me with your opinions and suggestions.