By John Ferrannini and Kyle Moore
A group of Christians preaching near the Rose Marks Quad on Tuesday faced a vocal response from curious students.
A man identifying himself only as “Brother Gary,” with no last name given, was armed with a sign, a hard hat and a Bible as he spoke out against Islam, Catholicism and other beliefs that he said would damn souls to hell.
As Brother Gary preached, a group of curious students assembled around him. Some started shouting back.
Gary Mungia, a philosophy major, shouted “When I gave up church, I gave up prejudices.”
“Only faith in Jesus Christ can save you,” said Brother Gary.
“I think this gentlemen here is just spouting fear,” Mungia said. “I think that he’s upset that people are starting to wake up and accept science and they’re not gonna spend their whole life waiting to be dead. He’s not taking any questions because he doesn’t know how to answer anything.”
Some student onlookers were disturbed not by religious beliefs themselves, but the tenor of Brother Gary’s sidewalk sermon.
“I’m a Christian and I believe in the Gospel,” said Cody Spath, a social work major. “I believe that this scares people away. I believe this truth but I don’t believe the way he’s sharing it is in any way comforting, welcoming. I don’t like it. I don’t think they should be on campus–probably (should be) banned.”
Interim ARC President Pamela Walker was walking by when she saw the demonstration. She stressed that Brother Gary’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech and the student’s right to safety were the most important things the administration should consider.
“This looks like free speech so far,” Walker said. “We want to make sure we are appropriate for all the students. I just want to make sure all students and community members who come to campus realize this campus is safe and that we do support the opportunities for free speech. Now if at any point something changes so that the educational process–the faculty–have some problems with their teaching area, then we’ll make sure our campus people come out and do some work.”
Brother Gary was invited to the campus by Luke Otterstad who was presiding at a booth with a sign that read “JESUS ‘There is Salvation in No One Else.’”
“I am here to proclaim the message of the truth of scripture,” Otterstad said. “That Jesus came to this earth and showed us how to live a perfect life and that he was killed because his works were righteous. His death pays the penalty for our sin and if we believe in that we can be saved.”
Luke said no particular institution, church, or congregation was associated with the booth except for “just biblical Christianity.” Luke’s father Richard, however, was pastor of the Church of the Divide in El Dorado as recently as 2006.
The two were active in demonstrations for the passage of Proposition 8 in 2008, which made same-sex marriage illegal in California until 2013.
The booth contained a tract from Chick Publications, which is a hate group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center that is “anti-Muslim, anti-gay and anti-Mormon.”
Otterstad said that while he may not agree with specific Chick tracts, he believes they are helpful for gaining converts.
“Regarding specific Chick Publication teachings and stuff, I’d have to look at it and see if I’d agree with that,” Otterstad said. “The only thing I would endorse 100 percent is in the Bible. In general, from what I’ve seen in his publications, they seem good.”
