At some point in each semester at CSULB, somebody tells me that I am going to burn in hell. It isn’t because I am doing anything particularly sinful, in fact, most of the time I am just calmly walking to class. For whatever reason, evangelical preachers on campus believe that yelling their beliefs at students is going to convince them to change their ways.
A few days ago, our school was once again invaded by the infamous “Brother Jed,” a preacher who specializes in promoting his particular brand of craziness on college campuses around the world. He uses his time on campus to condemn every passerby to an eternity in hell, through the use of offensive skits and nonsensical speeches.
My first reaction to Jed, like most of my fellow students, was to laugh. His almost cartoonish representation of radical Christianity is entertaining to say the least. When I saw him most recently, he had garnered a rather large crowd around him. Most, if not all, of the students were heckling and questioning him, or just watching for fun.
Brother Jed’s “performance” plays out like something from a bad Saturday Night Live sketch. He even had a gang of sidekicks with him who helped spout hateful comments. When I was watching them last Tuesday, March 15, one of the members of his group called a girl a “bitch” for talking on her cell phone during his speech. The same man also ridiculed a different girl for having a nose piercing, calling her a “savage.”
Now I understand why so many students were crowded around these people. The whole spectacle is fun to watch. However, after about 20 minutes of watching people attempt to argue with Jed and his gang, I started to get annoyed. I can’t help but feel that this kind of reaction is exactly what they want from us. As college students, we feel the need to argue with them and try to outsmart them in some way. The problem is, arguing about religion with people like this is completely pointless. Nothing you say will ever change their mind, and they will respond to any bit of logic with more nonsense and Bible quotes.
Brother Jed’s intention is to upset people on purpose, and he thrives on the catcalls and disapproval that come from the students he is directing his hateful rants toward. Even if you think you’re being clever when you say some kind of remark to him, you are only falling into his trap by listening to him in the first place.
In some ways, this is similar to the notorious Westboro Baptist Church, the group of radical Christians who protest at military funerals and are known for their “God hates fags” campaign. Every time they make an appearance, there is a massive outpouring of anger and counter-protests against them, which is understandable. However, because we pay so much attention to them, they receive media coverage and fame, which is exactly what they want.
The only way to deal with these kinds of people is to ignore them. Next time someone shoves a Bible in your face and calls you a sinner, just keep on walking instead of making some kind of remark. If everybody ignores them, they will eventually go away.
Matt Grippi is a junior journalism major and contributing writer for the Daily 49er.
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