Two protesters and many students surrounded the Pentacrest recently, leading students to question: should religious groups be allowed to protest close to campus?
Amber, a second year student stated, “I claim to be a Christian that is about love. He is spilling hate and taking people away from being a Christian.”
The Missouri protester and his co-worker, Kent Young, have been delivering protests on campuses for years.
“The burden of the speaker is that Christ is coming soon. He wants to reach out to the lost, save them, so they can make it to heaven. There are two places we spend eternity, and that is heaven or hell. I think everyone understands that, and everybody knows, well they might not admit it, but when it comes to the time to die, nobody wants to die because of the unknown. We don’t know. We know there is a heaven and hell, and if you don’t know where you are going to go when you spend eternity, then you’re probably going to spend eternity in hell. His mission (his passion) is to try to get as many people to accept Christ and live and serve God.”
The protest turned when he began to call female students “whores,” “homesexuals” and “sinners”. When the crowd began to question the protester’s remarks, police surrounded the area.
One female student, Samantha Mestan, stated, “I struggle with these things. I accept him. But I am not going to promote him because he can’t call me those things.”
First year student Gillian Herrian also responded, “It is free speech, but he should not be allowed to harass. The best way to deal with him is to discredit. Logic won’t work. Never going to change their mind, and it’s not worth the effort. It is important to understand that it is hopeless.”
When asked about the heated debate and remarks made, Young stated, “When sin is confronted, it becomes a heated debate. It is so difficult because the liberal is so closed to the fact of truth, and you can see it everywhere.”
Yet students took the men’s free speech differently and fought their words. Amber states,“Free speech is important, but there should be a (different) place where he should stand. Not in the area with a lot of people.”
University of Iowa protects free speech. While groups like the most recent are allowed, Amber states, “Groups can protest what they believe in, but it should be done in a specific area.”