A new kind of religious fundamentalism
Last week I had a little run in with our good friends of the Consuming Fire Fellowship. It was late in the evening and there were not that many students left on campus.
Our good friend, “the preacher” asked me if I had Jesus Christ in my life and when I told him yes he asked me what church I went to. He told me that Jesus Christ could save me from the Episcopal Church. I said no thank you and went about my way, but it started my wheels turning.
Here I was thinking we lived in a free country, the freest, but I guess I was wrong. According to these zealots there is no more religious toleration. You are no longer allowed to practice a religion or lack thereof unless that includes wearing a sandwich board damning your fellow human being.
Instead of eternally damning the student population of LSU why don’t the men of the Consuming Fire Fellowship look at what they are doing to their children. Last time I checked, home schooling did not include walking around wearing sandwich boards and eternally damning college students.
I doubt seriously that these children know what a whoremonger or a sodomite really is. Trust me, I asked.
Perhaps, a vocabulary lesson could be made out of the sandwich boards your children don. It would be quite educational. Be sure to include “hypocrite” in that list because that is what you are.
Your pamphlet says, “Hell is Earth’s junk yard, the hazardous waste dump of the universe.” You say, “It is the black hole that finally sucks in all that is rebellious, unkind, proud, lustful and destructive.”
Well, if I am a sinner, as you call me, I will see you there.
I have witnessed your wrath and you, my friend, are a very unkind person and what you are doing to your children is destructive. Don’t be upset. I am only quoting you.
A young girl walks by in running shorts and a tank top and you damn her to Hell, calling her a whore. She runs away crying.
A young man walks by wearing a fraternity shirt and you damn him to Hell, calling him a rapist. He practically beats you up.
I have witnessed both of these events and, according to acceptable social practices, they are unkind.
As for your children, I am no psychology major, but I know that donning a sandwich board of damnation is no way to spend your childhood.
But, your children are your business. I would, nevertheless, like to give you one piece of advice.
Stop your ranting and your name-calling. You don’t know even know the people you are yelling at. Unkind words hurt others.
The First Amendment protects your right to be at the Union, but at some point the line will be drawn. When you infringe upon the rights of others you lose that right.
The students feel you should have no place at the LSU Union if you are going to taunt us with your brand of religious fanaticism.
According to my dictionary, a fanatic is a person obsessively devoted to a belief or activity. The zealots of the fellowship, by definition, are fanatics.
They have a word for religious fanatics in Afghanistan. They are called the Taliban.
You are just preaching a newfangled brand of Christian fanaticism. Call it what you want and dress it up as you will, but you are no better than the people we are fighting thousands of miles away.
Sarah Hunt