Masturbation, dyed hair and monochromatic clothes were just a few of the things condemned by an religious advocate on the main stage of the quad on Thursday Oct. 11.
As Club Day festivities wound down, students began to flock towards two men ranting vocally, claiming everything from abortion to green hair was the source of all America’s problems.
One man preached at passing students, at times nearly turning as red as his “Turn to Jesus or Burn in Hell” T-shirt while his companion stood quietly stage left toting a “Trust Jesus” picket sign, and recorded the impromptu sermon on a digital video camera.
Monica Cardenas, an 18-year-old psychology major, took the stage with several other De Anza students to shout over the universally unwelcome visitors.
“For me, going up there was like saying ‘you want to be heard-so do we,'” said Cardenas.
Fed up listening to the man use the Bible as justification for his condemnations, De Anza student Mitchell Ryan climbed atop a nearby table and countered with a call to action of his own.
Asking for a hug, which a fellow student gladly obliged, Ryan offered his name and telephone number to anyone in the crowd who wanted to discuss Christianity or might be interested in attending local churches.
“When I tell people that I’m Christian, I don’t want them to think of me as these guys,” Ryan said. “That is not who we are as a Christian family. It’s something else. I don’t know what to call those people but I can’t call them Christians.”
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