Annoyed with all the religious nuts on campus

[alphaeta08]

Yeah, the Gideons are pretty harmless; I don't think anyone would ever challenge them or get into an argument with them. I see it as something for retired old men to do, and if that's how they get their kicks, that's cool. Plus their blazers are kind of snazzy.

[O Latin]

Today it was the JWs (at least I think so, I've never been sure). They're my favorite because they just stand there holding up their pamphlets or whatever and anyone who wants to can take one (I've never seen it happen).

I don't find the Gideon guys terribly annoying since all you have to do is say, "No, thanks." It was just that there were so many of them. I felt like I was walking through an obstacle course of Gideon Bible men.

[Rosa]

At my university there were never just a few Gideons, there were always a gauntlet of them you had to get through.

I was raised to be polite, especially to older people, so saying "NO thank you no thank you no thank you" like they were a bunch of panhandlers, to all 5-12 of them, on the way to half my classes, was really wearing. That's how I ended up with stacks and stacks of their stupid Bibles.

Plus I was in Iowa - there was not one person at that university with no access to a New Testament, I guarantee it.

[JesusFightClub]

My uni isn't too bad. We have the CU, and mainly they chalk info about upcoming talks or give out free hot cross buns at Easter time. Sometimes they attempt 'roaming', but I've never experienced in-you-face crazies.

The Marxists, on the other hand....:roll:

Guilty as charged. I have been that annoying paperseller/petition pusher/person on stall. I try to be less annoying now though...

In terms of uni, that is where I first encountered true fundies (not fundylites but snarkable types) . The biggest difference between UK and US campuses seems to be the number and general visibility of fundies. Ours handed out tracts and wore rather nasty sandwich boards but you saw them rarely and there were no megaphones or ranting involved.

[emmiedahl]

I've never seen the megaphones or ranting. Pretty sure that is not allowed in colleges on the West Coast.

I find proselytizing annoying, whether for political or religious reasons. I don't mind having a discussion with people I know or even a friendly debate, but being handed The Truth on a piece of paper pisses me off. Do they think that ignorance is the only reason to reject their belief system?

[Terrie]

We had Brother Jed and his ilk. My favorite was Sister Cindy explaining how oral sex causes breast cancer.

[JesusFightClub]

Emmiedahl, yes and no. I can't speak for religious proselytisers, but we are normally not starting from the point of view "This person must be instantly convinced of the truth of all our beliefs straight away". Petitions and stalls and papers serve different functions (there is one function they have in common, of course, which is eventual recruitment) but generally we do expect people we approach or who approach us to be at least slightly aware of the issue we are campaigning around. (That is why I don't really get the giving out Bibles thing. Who is going to be all like "wow, what is this????)

So for an example if I was selling a paper (which I hate doing BTW) I would be holding the paper in time honoured fashion (across chest, title showing) and if I noticed someone looking over smile and say "Fancy a copy of [paper]? It's only £1. Got some really interesting articles about [current issue]…"

If they listened to you that long you will eventually have either sold them the paper "you only have 20p? That'll do fine. Look, if you want to hear more about [issue] we are holding a meeting on the 9th, want to come along? What's your email, I'll send you the details..." or they have had a massive argument with you which at least livens the tedium a bit.

It's not necessary to be shouting or ranting, in fact that is counterproductive, like big crazy sandwich boards or telling people they are going to Hell unless they accept all you are saying uncritically right now. It scares/irritates most. But the thing about us and the fundies is we believe this shit we're talking about is vitally important. Believing this, it would be totally weird to restrict it to dinner party conversations or odd offhand mentions. I might not like methods, but I see why fundies do what they do in that regard.

[emmiedahl]

I'm sure you weren't obnoxious JFC, and I have only rarely been approached by people trying to win me over to a liberal or leftist pov. The other side is definitely more evangelical.

[Daenerys]

I'm so glad I go to a secular university where people can't openly preach and there is no funding for any society with a religious affliation.

Although some people did manage to get into my friend's halls to hand out copies of the Book of Moron Mormon, which is a bit weird to start with as Mormonism is so Amero-Centric and we're in England. I don't get why anyone here would want to follow that religion, but we do have a temple in the city somewhere.

Their response was to use this precious book of revelation as a beer mat. The irony is brilliant, I think we should give it back reeking of vodka.

[Bookworm89]

At my university there are 2 christian college "ministries" on campus, and get they get around it by doing all the paperwork to be student organizations. There are also 2 other christian groups that bought houses right next to campus and have their "ministries" there. I went to the BSM one my freshman year and part of my sophmore year before I got tired of all the cliques and fake people. They would act all christian within the building but when I saw them around campus they were acting the opposite of what they preached.

The Mormon's like our campus as well. They like to hang around the library and the university center.

The Gideon's come around a few times of the year and hang around teh cross walk that connects the school, they are very nice, they just smile and offer the bibles so I don't mind them.

My school is a state supported school but in the heart of conservative Texas so that might explain why there is so much pressure on the campus to be "christian" even if it's not forced on you.

[koolmom]

FWIW, in a way, it's a good thing they allow crazies on college campuses for none other than to allow them freedom of expression. Just think, if pedo crazy Phil Gallardo hadn't taken to going to the UC Berkeley campus, they would have never found poor Jaycee Dugard...

[emmiedahl]

I really, really like freedom of speech. It makes it easy to tell who the idiots are.

I just get annoyed when I am running from class to class and someone tries to engage me. Right now, with internet classes this semester, that would be my 11 mo, who is trying to convert me to the church of Let the Baby Touch the Computer, which is only slightly more rational and productive than LDS. The door-to-door ones are amusing, and they use the same "jenna the jew" arguments from that website that someone here found so I am totally ready for them.

[SamuraiKatz]

I know him well. He's been coming here since I was little, though I don't remember seeing him recently. Supposedly his whole thing is mostly to try to get someone to harass him so he can sue. Students here get really proud of themselves for yelling at him, but it's not like there are people who agree with him. I wish people would just ignore him.

The Gideons were on campus today. They really don't bother me at all. They don't say anything, just hand out Bibles, and they have no problem if someone says no. My one complaint is the people who take them then trash them. It's wasteful and disrespectful. Just don't take one if you don't want one.

Bowman was on campus at the beginning of the semester. On the grass out there between Mullins Library and the Union. I had to run the gauntlet that day to grab lunch at RZs.

I fear we shall see more of him out there for a while. His other two favorite screamin spots are currently fenced off as construction zones. I like it better when he's at the Peace Fountain or out in front of Ozark Hall/Old Main.

I had to run the gauntlet of Gideons to get to work the other morning. They are out there about this time every year. They are all old geezers...and all they are doing is handing out Bibles. Thankfully, I've never had one of them call me a lesbian cause of my short hair and pants wearin ways. :roll:

Have you seen the guys that look like Amish or Mennonites that stand out in front of the Union with their insulting signs trying to get all the godless heathens to repent. I see them out on Dickson street on occasion. I don't think they are real Mennonites as they are usually not the proselytizing types.

Such is the life of a heathen living in Duggarland...

[emmiedahl]

Has anyone mentally explored why the patriarchalists are at colleges in the first place? What is the desired outcome? I am going to hear them and give up my career aspirations to add a few more kids to a Section 8 apartment? Or maybe are the younger college girls are going to stop drinking and whoring and move back home to be SAHD's? Does that shit even happen?

[Rachel333]

Have you seen the guys that look like Amish or Mennonites that stand out in front of the Union with their insulting signs trying to get all the godless heathens to repent. I see them out on Dickson street on occasion. I don't think they are real Mennonites as they are usually not the proselytizing types.

Such is the life of a heathen living in Duggarland...

I forgot about those! They're out there pretty often. There are women with them sometimes, too, aren't there? The signs are clearly trying to get a reaction, but I actually try not to look at the signs unless the sign-holders don't see me. I don't want them to think their signs are doing any good.

I ran into the Mormons today. It was a pair of sister missionaries, one of which was, I think, the first non-white missionary I've seen in the US.

I find it funny to look at the interaction of the different religious groups on the sidewalks. I saw one outside Brough that was something like "Sleep in Sunday. God is real. [bible Verse]." Someone then added "NOT" to "God is real", and then someone crossed out "Sleep in Sunday" and wrote "Come to CRU." It definitely is an interesting place here as far as religion goes.

Has anyone mentally explored why the patriarchalists are at colleges in the first place? What is the desired outcome? I am going to hear them and give up my career aspirations to add a few more kids to a Section 8 apartment? Or maybe are the younger college girls are going to stop drinking and whoring and move back home to be SAHD's? Does that shit even happen?

I think the reason why so many people try to recruit on college campuses is that it's a lot more likely to work on college students than other groups. I don't know about becoming SAHD's, but conversions do happen. College is a really vulnerable time for a lot of people--you're on your own for the first time (which also means that your parents' religion no longer factors in to where/if you go to church), you're trying to figure out who you are and what you want your life to be like, college can be really stressful, and it's also the age where a lot of issues like mental illness and such pop up anyway.

[koolmom]

Has anyone mentally explored why the patriarchalists are at colleges in the first place? What is the desired outcome? I am going to hear them and give up my career aspirations to add a few more kids to a Section 8 apartment? Or maybe are the younger college girls are going to stop drinking and whoring and move back home to be SAHD's? Does that shit even happen?

I've noted your past few posts refers to having Section 8 housing...I have Section 8, too. How is that working out for you? I've had mine for over 20 years, have downscaled from a 3-bedroom to a 1-bedroom. It sure made the difference for me in many ways...

[Vex]

This why I LOVE my university: It's a tiny rural place in the middle of nowhere, where the only outwardly religious displays are in the form of the many Muslim ladies who pray at the campus Mosque in Chador. No one bible thumps. We have no campus Christian groups, but we do have a gay club. There is a church on campus, but it doesn't get nearly as much use as the Mosque.

[VintageJen1984]

Yes, I know about Marriott being a mormon dealio. Right after we bought our first timeshare there, a fundie-lite friend of ours was horrified and exclaimed, "Do you know that you are supporting the Mormons??!!!" Eleventy!!!

Uh, yeah, but we just don't care because we like to vacation and they have the best linens.

Gah! What is the POINT of that? It's just like the evangelicals and fundies who say "we don't support Disney because they employ so many gays." Um, yeah, so if the gays don't have a job, they starve, and then they are going to hell according to you, so way to go for that, I guess.

ETA: Also, yeah, I wish I could be on a campus the day the fundies do the whole "women should not be at college" thing, 'cause I'd be like "look, I'd like to be barefoot, pregnant, and at home as much as you'd like me to be, but my parents would never, ever allow me to just stay home without school or a job, and I don't have and can't find a husband. Would you rather me be starving on the streets and still not under my parents authority?"

[Rosa]

Has anyone mentally explored why the patriarchalists are at colleges in the first place? What is the desired outcome? I am going to hear them and give up my career aspirations to add a few more kids to a Section 8 apartment? Or maybe are the younger college girls are going to stop drinking and whoring and move back home to be SAHD's? Does that shit even happen?

They're at the colleges because they're one of the few places with public areas that people actually walk through. They show up downtown here, because the city has sidewalks - but most places, almost every place that anyone ever walks in is either private (parking lot, commercial property) or requires a permit (public parks & beaches).

[mirele]

We had Brother Jed and his ilk. My favorite was Sister Cindy explaining how oral sex causes breast cancer.

Poor woman has several kids, but obviously it's just been straight-up missionary position for 30 years.

[Kelsey]

We had the crazies at my uni before I graduated. I'm talking megaphones and the walking billboards- the whole nine yards. They were so obnoxious and in your face. They'd get right in front of Subway/Burger King and just rant for hours.

I went to college in Florida but it was in Tampa. Not North Florida, where the fundies are.

[Terrie]

Poor woman has several kids, but obviously it's just been straight-up missionary position for 30 years.

I don't think the woman ever had a basic anatomy/health class in her life. The explanation is that sperm causes cells to divide, so oral sex would cause the cells in the breasts to start dividing rapidly, which is what we call cancer. Uh-huh. :roll:

Also funny, two of my friends were standing there listening (they always got a crowd, because we liked to heckle at my college), when Brother Jed called one of them a slut for wearing pants. The girl he called a slut was actually very prim and proper, while the girl next to her, wearing the skirt, was... well, not.

[formerlyfundie]

My poor husband goes to a Free Will Baptist college (which he somewhat regrets now, hoping the military will support switching schools if it continues to be so loony) and is SURROUNDED by religious nuts all day. We are non denominational, former (recovering) fundies (hence the username ;) ) and he tells me stories almost everyday about all the "soul winning" he is supposed to be doing and all he is exposed to. It is INSANE. He is a little older than your typical freshman and says he is surrounded by 18 year old SOTDRT fundy kids who know NOTHING about ANYTHING. He was asked one day by a girl who he didn't even know him (since she knew he was in the military) if he thought he was going to Heaven even though he has killed people during deployments. RUDE. I don't know how he does it every day, more power to him.

[BoomerLynn]

My first semester of college on my second or third day of classes there was some crazy nutjob preaching how women were whores and beware the crazy goth people and the other typical crap that they preach. I stopped to listen out of curiosity ( had never seen these crazy people before) and there was a goth/punk girl standing there, blue streaked short spikey hair and all arguing with him. For every piece of scripture he threw out, she came back with one completely contradicting everything he said. (I think she said her father or grandfather was a pastor if i remember right) People were actually stopping to listen to her completely own this guy. We all cheered for her. It was great.

[susanmr5]

We have a smallish state university here in town that I went to for some time. The students were actually worse in some cases then any people who showed up to preach. We got the Gideons once but they were mostly polite and easily turned down with a smile and a "No thank you, I have one already!"

Campus Crusade for Christ on the other hand were a scary group. Like other said they'd advertise fun activities (spa night, free food, sports activities, etc) and in teeny tiny letter put on the bottom that it was sponsored by CRU. Show up, have fun, and then there would be random Bible reading and preaching. I went to one event before I decided I didn't want to put up with them even for whatever activity or free stuff they were handing out. Although I did get a nice laundry bag from them that way. The worst part was if you got something from them or showed up for an event they'd have you fill out this little sheet with your campus address and religious beliefs among other things then would track people down and bug them on a regular basis to join activities or go to their weekly worship meetings. I called campus security on them once because a group of them got together after their regular meeting and decided to hang out in the stairwell in front of one of their apartments and sing/play guitar. It echoed all the way down the hall and up the stairs - after quiet hours when I needed sleep for class the next day. They'd do that on a regular basis too. I was so happy when some of them graduated and they stopped that.