campus preacher n a self-appointed
messenger from Lord (
insert god's name here) Almighty, sent to rescue the
heathens by verbally berating them with promises of
hellfire and damnation
Campus Preachers: An Introduction
I can't claim to be an expert on
street preaching, as I've never done it myself. But I've spent a lot of time in
debate with these
preachers here at the
University of Florida, so I feel I can give a decent explanation of the mindset of these individuals.
How To Recognize A Campus Preacher
Generally campus preachers will be dressed
conservatively--they usually wear a button-up
shirt, probably a
tie and
vest or
jacket. They may or may not have a group of "assistants" whose job it is to either distract those who yell responses at the preacher by taking them aside and having private conversations, or hold up large banners featuring
aborted fetuses or insulting
Bible verses.
How To Find Them
If you attend a major
university, you'll probably run across them anyway. They generally station themselves in a
heavily-populated area of the
campus through which most
students must walk. If your school has a
Liberal Arts and Sciences area, this is a good start. Here at the
University of Florida,
Turlington Plaza and the
Plaza of the Americas are the spots of choice. It'll probably be the heart of your
campus--a heavily trafficked spot where the largest number of students will hear the
message.
Public high schools usually don't have this kind of campus preacher but instead have some sort of weekly early-morning
bible study.
Private high schools usually are RUN by some sort of
church in the
USA, so campus preaching is done in the
classroom.
Subject Matter
The common staple of the campus
preacher's talk is the "
You're going to hell" accusation. No one is safe--not even those who
agree with the preacher on most of his points. Generally those points include the
condemnation of large portions of his audience as
sinners of many varieties;
sodomites,
atheists,
fornicators,
homosexuals,
feminists,
witches,
drug users,
drunkards,
liars,
hypocrites,
Jews,
Muslims,
Catholics,
Mormons. The last few are usually all grouped together as
idolators. Generally, campus preachers are
Protestants of some variety, but occasionally you'll see a
Catholic preacher.
How To Be A Campus Preacher
- Never get involved in any sort of intellectual debate based on
logic. If you find yourself here, make an ad hominem attack by
accusing your opponent of "anger at God" or
"arrogance".
- Stick to the Bible. There's no need to use any other books--the
Bible is full of enough justification for violence and hate.
- Marginalize the atheists. Most people, even those who disagree
with you, believe in God. The atheists probably know the Bible
just as well as you do, except that they reject it. By pointing out
that atheists disagree with you, you may be able to swing the crowd your
way.
- Once the atheists are neutralized, you can start in on the liberal
Christians. These people usually don't know their Bible very well,
and this becomes painfully obvious when they are questioned.
- Remember--if reality disagrees with the Bible, reality must be wrong.
- A negative crowd reaction is better than no reaction at all.
- A negative crowd reaction, in fact, shows that you are right. After all, people can't handle the truth.
Possible Motivations
It is my strong suspicion that these
rabble-rousers are essentially in it because of point 7 above. A
persecution complex encourages them to go out and insult people for the very GOAL of attaining that
negative crowd reaction. When the crowd hates them, that is their way of self-
martyrdom. They are trying to suffer for their religion and become a tragic hero. The worst thing a campus preacher can hear is laughing. That's how you beat the really
wacko ones--you make them look stupid. You probably aren't going to be able to get them to stop verbally trashing your campus, but you CAN make them regret putting your campus on their list of targets.
Some Campus Preachers (/msg me to add to the list)
Brother Jed
Brother Carl
Tom Short