By Seth Dorman

On several days this past week, there was a man on the mall in front of Fogler Library loudly reciting passages of the Bible. Most students walked past him without pause. One group ran to him, joined their hands to form a circle with him at the center, and skipped around him. Others laughed at him and the words he said. A few became annoyed or angry. A few thanked him.

It is unusual to preach in public. But we hold dear our freedom of speech and our freedom of religion, so a man can preach on the mall, and students can voice their approval or disapproval. What place is better suited to the presentation and exchange of ideas than a university? However, something did seem peculiar about some of the responses to the man and his message.

First, he was reciting sections of famous literary texts: Genesis, Isaiah, and the Gospel of Matthew, which are taken from the most influential book in the history of the written word. Why would some students respond by joining hands and skipping around him in a circle, laughing? If someone were to recite Homer, would they have the same reaction?

Second, beyond their literary value, the words he spoke had a clear meaning. But as he was speaking, some shouted back common misconceptions which had no connection to his text — maybe an attempt to refute him, or to mock him, or to avoid hearing the words he actually said. Again, this is a strange response.

Of course, it is impossible to separate the Bible from Christianity, or Christianity from the Bible. Thus, the responses to this man and the words he said seemed largely not responses to him as an individual, or to the actual words he spoke, but rather responses to the Bible and Christianity as a whole. And these responses are strange in a place which prides itself on tolerance and open-mindedness. If someone had been reading from some other religious text of a different faith, and several people had mocked him or her, would there have been a backlash? Would a police officer have talked to him or her about leaving?

Some argue that religion is too contentious and private a topic for the public sphere. Christianity is good for this man; is that not enough? Why can’t he simply let those who don’t believe it walk to class undisturbed? The mall is a pleasant place to sit in September to study, talk with friends or toss a Frisbee; and the man reciting Bible passages was distracting and caused awkwardness for some.

Or maybe the problem is just that Christianity itself is deeply offensive to some, as Jesus himself warned his first followers: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

For the man quoting the Bible on the mall, according to his beliefs, to remain silent would be a failure to love his fellow human beings. This was his self-professed reason for speaking. It took courage and sacrifice on his part — and that seems worth at least an acknowledgment, and maybe even a listen.