Pro
As I stand in the middle of a gigantic circle surrounded by people in the Free Speech area, I hear all kinds of profanity and negative comments being yelled at a young man in a bright orange shirt that reads “Jesus rebukes those He loves,” who is talking about God and the Bible.
In case you are unaware of what is happening at Bakersfield College every Wednesday, Nathaniel Runels, a former BC student and a preacher from The Church of Calvary Chapel, comes to the campus to attempt to “save the lost” and exposes people to the word of God.
Recently, reactions from students have escalated, and from what I can hear while standing in the area surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of people, most of these reactions being voiced are negative.
But is this guy really causing a disruption on campus?
One of the people who yelled at him a couple of weeks ago complained that she is tired of the sight of him and she expressed that she is not happy that she has to hear him while she has to walk to class. I also heard other people state “he’s only doing this for attention.”
It’s simple. If certain people complain that he is just standing in the middle of the Free Speech area and sharing his religious beliefs solely for attention, then why are these same people standing around him and giving him the attention that, according to them, he is seeking?
If these people really believe that this weekly ruckus is a waste of time, then they should keep walking, mind their own business, and let the people who are interested in what he has to say listen to him. Unless he is physically blocking the door to your class and hinders people’s ability to go on with their school day, then one really does not have a valid reason to be complaining about his presence in a public area.
I have also heard people say that it is in his right to say whatever he pleases, but that they also have this freedom. As a result of this belief, the profanity and negative comments that I mentioned earlier occurred.
While all people have the constitutional right to speak their mind – and yes, this took place in the Free Speech area on campus – this is when common courtesy comes into play.
Having the freedom to say what is on your mind, does not mean that it is acceptable to deliberately disrespect someone in front of hundreds of people, make signs with the message that everything he believes in is fake and mock him behind his back.
After all, he is a human being, and we all deserve to be treated with respect, regardless of our personal beliefs.
The real disruption on campus is not the young man standing on a small step stool preaching about his beliefs. In reality, the nuisance is the discourteous crowd that gathers around him exhibiting negativity.
Con
The first thing that comes to my mind when there’s a crowd is that controversy is sure to come. When an individual is giving a speech on a subject that people feel very passionate about, things can get out of hand.
Religion is one subject that can get people fired up. Religion can turn someone into a completely different person, mostly because people believe that what they are saying is right. Their opinions get in the way of their actions.
On Feb. 19, Nathaniel Runels drew a huge crowd, which caused people to express their feelings toward him to which he replied back in bible verses, which, from what I saw, people weren’t too happy about.
What I saw was people having side conversations and arguing on a subject that should have been spoken about professionally. Runels causes people to turn against each other and made people have deep conversations on what they don’t fully understand. I’m not saying that I’m an expert on the Bible. That’s why I stay out of the conversations. It only takes one person to take it too far.
It starts out as preaching, but it could end up into people fighting. Runels needs to spread his word in a better way than just yelling at students. He needs to go to individuals rather than individuals going to him. He needs to see that yelling verses isn’t going to get people into the Bible, but rather turn people away from it.
People in different religions go door-to-door to spread the word of God and others invite people to their churches to listen to what the pastor says.
When he draws a crowd, he’s gathering a mixture of people who do and people who do not believe in religion, which can occasionally cause uproar. Mixing people with different perspectives on religion is never good.
Most of the people can’t stand when they are being talked down to, which causes them to speak up even louder. People are born into different backgrounds and are grown into believing things differently.
I grew up in a religious background and was never told to go out and shout bible verses to people. I was taught that people have different ideas on who God is and that we should respect their opinions rather than judge them.
My opinion in all this is that people need to learn how to respect one another on their beliefs because no one really has all the answers on God.
There are so many religions out in the world that tell us different things, but only you are entitled to believe them or not. Even with all the bible verses that Runels is preaching about, only you that can come up with the decision of whether you believe he is right or not. I believe that people need to be better at discussing religious conversations, because we get nowhere if people just shout it from a spot in any given area.