Letters to the editor-Oct. 13

Letters received in response to the Byrnes protest on Oct. 13. 

The area outside of Byrnes auditorium is quiet now.  Some stragglers are still walking.  Some of them still talking about what they saw or heard.

Less than an hour ago the protesters were still here preaching and waving their posters of aborted babies around. Someone told me they had been there since mid-day, starting over in front of the student center and then somehow ending up in front of Byrnes either through choice or force.

I imagine it wasn’t long before my fellow students started simmering with rage, hollering back at the preachers about their hateful sermons. I’m pretty sure soon after that some of my peers started breaking out signs of their own—signs that were creative, funny, and angry. Some of the messages even expressed pity.

I caught the tail end of the whole thing, watching as one of pastors “preached” to an entire crowd of students. They formed around him like a circle so that it gave the appearance that they were swallowing him up. I tried to listen to his message, picking up a couple of words every now and then over the outraged yelling of my peers. Typical stuff: sins, hell, Jesus, the works.

I’m not going to lie. I was pretty happy and smug. I felt superior to these ignorant people with their grotesque pictures and the hate speech that they had wrapped up in what they perceived to be the language of love.

I admit it.

I watched my fellow students protest their hearts out, contradict the sermons with logic, and raise the type of hell you would expect from liberally educated students in this scenario.  I was so proud to stand beside them.

It was only a couple of minutes later that I realized something:

We lost.

We failed just like every other campus does when the hatemongers come. We were bored. We were indignant. We showed up in droves.

We gave them their congregation. They probably went home proud, thinking about how many people they preached God’s message to.

I’m pretty sure they’re not thinking about how they told people they were going to hell, or that we’re all bad people.

They’re wondering about how many people they saved.

We renew the faith they have in their message and if it is a message that the majority disagree with or find just plain repulsive then why do we so eagerly show up to listen to it?

I honestly believe that the best course of action is to simply ignore these sort of  things  because without an audience all these protesters would be are individuals armed with impotent words doomed to fall on deaf ears.

We gave their self-appointed task validity. We turned a spectacle into a circus and that is exactly what they wanted.

Javy Gwaltney, senior English major

I am all for freedom of speech. I support actions that get people engaged in meaningful conversations. For those of you who know me, I have also never even been one to shy away from causing a raucous. In fact, I think I thrive on it!

However, recent events (the protest in front of Byrnes) upset me and left me with the need to share my thoughts with the Winthrop community. College can be an amazing time of growth and exploration. Freshmen especially are faced with unfamiliar issues and are learning to deal with the pressure of making decisions for themselves.

That is why the protest affected me so. Why these people (those from Salvation Junction) felt that method of abusive confrontation was the best way to bring people to Jesus, I will never know. Christianity is about loving your neighbor, helping the hopeless, and working towards a greater good....for something much greater than ourselves. The men who disrupted our campus (our home), did nothing but hurt our ability to share our faith, in a loving way, with those we come in contact with on campus. Spreading hate and fear and representing Christians as "finger pointers" only puts up a wall around students minds and heart....one which is difficult to tear down.

The following is something I have shared with some of my students and, although I am not proud of it, I believe it is a good representation of why I feel as I do about the importance of faith on campus and representing love to your fellow Eagles. The weekend before classes started my freshman year of college, I attended a frat party. I "woke up" sometime that night on the basement floor of the frat house, surrounded by strangers who showed not a morsel of concern for me. The girl I came with was nowhere to be found. I felt alone and ashamed. The next morning I wandered into the campus ministries building and was greeted with open arms by the warmest group of students. They did not judge me. Even after sharing all my inadequacies, they did not shake their fingers. They befriended me, supported me and helped me to know God. That spring I became a Christian and those people, 18 years later and 300 miles away, are still there when I need a friend. That is what Godly love it about. It isn't about blame or guilt or fear, no matter what our recent campus guests may say.

As a Christian, do I think I am perfect? "Heavens" no! I do things that disappoint myself and God probably on a daily basis. I have royally screwed up time and again and am keenly aware that I have a long way to go. However, I have a biological family, a church family, and now a Winthrop family who show me more Godly love, forgiveness and acceptance than I could ever deserve. Although I don't talk about my faith in the classroom, I hope that through my dedication and obvious love for my students, they will come to know God and know that there are people in our Winthrop community that care.

Jennifer Belk, Assistant Professor, Interior Design Program