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Four men who claimed they were preaching the message of Jesus Christ in front of the Cornell Parking Structure Friday afternoon stirred outrage among students.
One of the Christian preachers, who declined to give his real name and called himself “Joshua the Preacher,” said his group is following the word of Christ by preaching at UNM. He said the group decided to come to campus to encourage sinners to change their ways.
“We believe in the Bible, and Jesus said to go into the world and preach,” he said. “We came to UNM to spread the message that Jesus Christ is true. We’re individuals preaching salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. Turn to Jesus Christ or you will burn in hell.”
Joshua said the group preached against sins that are now common everywhere.
“A person who understands justice understands that if you break God’s law, you are now guilty and punishable,” he said. “We want to deal with the sin of humanity: drinking, smoking, fornicating, masturbating, lies, theft, pornography and homosexuality. Without Jesus Christ you will go to the lake of fire.”
During the event, the men raised placards that they said affirmed Christianity, one of which displayed “Islam is a religion of blood and murder. The blood from Jesus is given as a ransom for all mankind.” Three of the men’s wives and their young children stood watching from a distance. The event went on for three hours.
About 100 students came to the area in front of the Cornell Parking Structure to voice their opinions against the preachers, who yelled to students to repent and called them offensive names.
One of the men called this reporter a “homo” and called the Daily Lobo’s photographer a “whore.”
Student Benny Fuller said the men were disobeying Christianity’s teachings by calling students names.
“Jesus specifically said don’t call your brother ‘raca,’ which basically means idiot,” he said. “The same thing applies with ‘fag,’ ‘homo’ and all that. Don’t go out causing strife. They’re leading people astray by spreading this message of hate.”
Fuller said it is outrageous that the University allowed the men to preach their hateful message at UNM.
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“Christianity is supposed to be a religion about love, respect and doing unto others what you want them to do unto you,” he said. “Whatever the Bible says is irrelevant. It’s not a loving thing to go ahead and start yelling and berating people with it. They’re not here to spread a message of love. They’re just douche bags.”
At least five UNMPD officers were present at the event.
UNMPD Sgt. Gilbert Lujan said the police were on standby in case interactions between the preachers and students became violent. He said that although students demanded to have the preachers kicked out of the University, the police could not do so because the men received a permit from the University to assemble.
“They have this space this afternoon to do whatever it is that they’re discussing. I guess it’s religion,” Lujan said.
Lujan said the preachers are exercising their freedom of speech.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion,” he said. “As long as it doesn’t get violent, then the police wouldn’t step in, but there’s just been a lot of shouting back and forth, and it’s pretty peaceful.”
