Members of the Consuming Fire Fellowship of Gloster, Mississippi stopped by Free Speech Plaza last week to preach their own interpretation of religious texts using petty insults to gain the attention of passers-by. They preached their 100 percent, totally correct version of everything from gender studies to biological evolution, as well as more unshakable scientific theories — like the idea that everyone is stupid except themselves.
[Take a look at the history of Free Speech Plaza in this story from our archives.]
Since the late ’80s, one of the fellowship’s founders, Pastor Britt Williams, has been documented preaching his own word at LSU. These kind people have been sentencing others to eternal damnation since before most of today’s student body was born, so maybe that consuming fire within their souls is something so immensely powerful and true.
Think about it: this practice has survived the unfathomable amount of time that spans 28 years, so who are we to question its grand historical influence? Let us also not forget this is a large-scale movement, since the church was founded by seven people in 1995.
Last week, I knew this returning group of radicals was on campus as I saw angels in the sky nodding in agreement to loud interjections and a general rebuttal of unsettled murmurs.
A quick stroll to the scene revealed these people were once again antagonizing our fellow students, insulting our “so-called institute of higher education” and attempting to undermine every other religious and philosophical standpoint that has ever been held on this planet.
Thankfully, we are a resilient group of “dishonest snakes,” and we don’t give in to their childish games. For that, I thank us. Sadly, however, we waste far too much time attempting to reason with these people.
These people, like ourselves, are equally unshakable. They believe that their rhetoric is proof of the validity of their beliefs, but we know that it is proof of the validity of their crude arrogance and inability to listen to others. We both hold positions we believe are worthy of defending.
Their position, however, involves the lowest forms of engagement, the most illogical forms of reasoning and the most barbaric conclusions I have ever heard.
This fellowship believes they are telling us the truth straight from the Bible. That, however, is as far as their reasoning takes them.
I asked two young male members to name the monsters from the Book of Revelation, and they knew none. I asked if they would treat people the same way Old Testament tribes ordered — including the killing of children — and they responded that they would take pride in doing so.
I doubt their conviction to that claim, and they merely agreed to stand by their cause. This, however, does nothing more than prove their claims are not necessarily based on true belief, but rather the hope to believe.
They hope they are right. They hope everyone else is wrong. They think if they scream into a world devoid of objective meaning long enough, the universe will hear them over everybody else and take it as truth. They scream just like any other animal screams: when they are afraid. They fear the world for what it may truly be — not because they fear the good or evil in it, but rather because they know they wouldn’t understand it.
Albert Camus once touched on the matter that a world explained with bad reasons is still more comfortable than a world left unexplained. They fear that which they don’t know, so they construct their cruel, insult-filled reality.
Many peaceful religions are far too often perverted by radicals like the Consuming Fire Fellowship. These people pick the cruelest and most illogical parts of their ancient text to justify their actions — parts that most other members who use the same document disagree with.
Nevertheless, these people will come back. They will attack us. They will be unreasonable, and they will be inconvenient. Just like last time, let’s hold our heads up, ask a few questions, laugh a little and go get lunch at the Student Union. They attack because they fear the world. Forgive them, for they know not what they do. Let them cast the first stone, for they are obviously without sin.
Jordan Marcell is a 19-year-old studio photography and linguistics sophomore from Geismar, Louisiana.

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Jordan Marcell

A member of Consuming Fire Fellowship speaks to a student on Sept. 27, 2016 in Free Speech Plaza.