Religious zealot demonstrates in front of the UC

On Nov. 1, a guy walked into the UC, approached the info desk and announced, "I want to practice my freedom of speech!"

After being directed to the free speech area surrounding the white mountain lion statue, he got up on his soap box – which he brought himself – and began his demonstration, which included handing out Bibles and business cards.

He was followed by an impromptu counter-protester, sophomore Lauren Schoate, a pre-nursing major, who sat on the bench behind him holding a whiteboard that read, "We are not all like this."

Students gathered in the plaza, as well as on the balcony overlooking it. They listened to the man shouting slogans of "Jesus will save you," "Read the Bible" and "Repent!"

The man, named Steve Johnson, is a local pharmacist, but uses his spare time to spread the gospel around Colorado Springs, including downtown locations and college campuses.

"I go where the people are, just like Jesus did," said Johnson.

When he was through speaking, he came down from his box and began dialoguing directly with students.

Many approached him because they were offended and upset by what he had to say. But some, like junior Meral Sarper, a mechanical and space engineering major, appreciated what he was doing.

"Regardless of whether people really heard him, or heard the counter-protester, I think it got people thinking, and I thought it was great," said Sarper, who added that she didn't necessarily agree with what he was saying, but appreciated that he believed in it enough to be out there.

Several students, including junior Tyler Lowman, a game design development major, stayed to engage in a debate with Johnson.

As the conversation began, Johnson said, "I care for people enough to tell them the truth."

Lowman replied, "How do you know it's the truth?"

"The Bible tells me it's the truth."

"But, it's a book, written 2,000 years ago," said Lowman.

"It is a book. But there's a lot of truth in there, don't you think?" responded Johnson, saying that architecture – the fact that there is architectural proof that all of the towns and cities written about in the Bible actually existed – authenticates it.

As the debate went on, it grew to be mostly one-sided. When students tried to make their points, they found that Johnson talked over them to make his own.

The conversation progressed to what happens after death, of which Johnson said, "I am not fearful at all because I know that I'm going to spend eternity with my lord, and the best you can hope for is that you'll be in the ground, and you'll be nothing."

He continued, "I hate Hell, and I don't want you to go there."

When the conversation moved on to the topic of science versus the Bible, one student mentioned what he learned in his science classes in Centennial Hall. To that, Johnson replied,

"It is nonsense. It's all stories. It changes all the time. I've been through college; I've got degrees; I've been through those lectures; I know what it's all about."

"It always changes. Even the speed of light they say now has changed."

The demonstration ended with Johnson announcing that he would be back and instructing students to be ready with some challenging questions. He has not yet returned to campus.

Students had varied reactions, but Schoate and Lowman don't agree with his methods.

"I just think that the way that he is coming to people is not the way that we were instructed in our faith. I mean, Jesus, when he went and preached to people, he didn't get up there and get above them and condemn; he sat with them and he spoke with them and he loved them," said Schoate.

Lowman added, "Growing up in a Christian household, I honestly think he gives a bad name to Christians. When people are scared of Christianity and scared of people judging them, judging too much for the end judgment, it's because of people like this

guy right here."

Senior James Burge, a communication and marketing major, thinks that Johnson could find a better way to reach college students.

"If he was smart, he would realize that it's 2011 and everybody has, like, an iPhone, with a Bible app. So push the Bible app, don't push an actual Bible," he said.

"If you want to get the word out, do it in a technological way on a college campus."