corrACTING US NEWSROOM: ADDRESS: (541)346-5511 Oregon Daily Emerald E-MAIL: P.O. BOX3159 ode@oregon uoregon.edu Eugene. Oregon 97403 ONLINE EDITION: www.uoregon.edu/~ode Perspectives EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sarah Kickler EDITORIAL EDITOR Mike Schmierbach NIGHT EDITOR Sarah Kickler Confrontation is not conversion Religious demonstrations on campus only heighten anti Christian sentiment among students Let me begin with a clarification: This column is not a treatise on religion or a meditation on Christianity. Those topics are best debated by scholars and theolo gians. Besides, there’s nothing I could add to the discussion that the likes of Marx, Nietzsche or Marilyn Manson haven’t already said with more pomp, pretense or pure entertainment value than I could manage. Those of us who have been here for awhile are familiar with the annual vis OPINION Kameron Cole it of “Bible Jim.” Every year during fall term he stops by and declares us all damned, people yell and throw things, and we all go on with life. Bible Jim has be come something of a campus legend. Well, actually, more of a joke than a legend. Most students get a good laugh at him and his entourage, which comes com plete with bullhorn and sandwich board. Unfortunately, his tactics seem to have caught on, and the joke isn’t funny anymore. Last week was a particularly active one for local evangelists. For the better part of five days, students were as sailed by guerrilla street preachers out to save our souls — whether we liked it or not. Some of us had no choice but to lis ten. Last Monday, as I sat in my two o’ clock class taking notes on optical weight, I found my attention drifting toward the religious group that had set up camp on the corner of 13th Avenue and University Street — not because of what they were saying but because of how loud they were saying it. Wednesday afternoon presented a similar scenario. For an hour I watched my Spanish professor trying to project her voice over the ranting of the free lance evangelist who was railing away outside of the building. It was like a warped version of dueling banjos; an irregular verb conjugation here, a snip pet of the Old Testament there. Both incidents left me more annoyed than enlightened. I was further vexed by the fact that every time I walked down 13th Avenue, I had people screaming at me to repent or find Jesus. I spent a lot of time last week try ing to figure out ^ what these people were trying to accom plish. More important, did they think they actu ally accomplished it by shouting condemnations at passersby? Given that incidents like this occur on campus every year, it’s not hard to see why religion is so unpopular with so many students. Generally, | . religious viewpoints on this campus range from benign sec- \ ularity to all-out hostility toward organized religion, in particular Christianity. When organizations set up shop on campus and start handing out judgment and pointing fingers at those they deem unright eous, it only justifies that hostility. In the interest of discourse and free speech, I would hesitate to suggest that evangelists be banned from cam pus or even significantly restricted in their activities. Instead, I’d like to of fer them this piece of free advice: Peo ple don’t like being told that they’re going to hell, even if it’s true. Further more, you do the biggest disservice to your cause by alienating those you seek to enlighten. If they really want to reach students, or anyone for that matter, street preach ers should spend less time on con frontation and cheesy theatrics and more time studying the nature of their cause. Consider this: Jesus drew peo ple to him with his gentle grace and quiet dignity. And there’s nothing graceful or dignified about parading down 13th Avenue wearing a sand wich board. Kameron Cole is a columnist for the Emerald Her columns appear on alter nate Wednesdays. Her views do not nec essarily represent those of the Emerald. V kcccPT I Jesus. CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald Drawing Board ~*Yl.PR6Slt*A /VfCAiN ptfNGOtO “wn emseetau? I KKP FOR6«TT!N6. MONfV TAIK5.. “But the fact is nothing can halt the ever-increasing recurrence of those moments when your total isolation, the sensation of an all-consuming emptiness, the ■ foreboding that your existence is nearing a painful and disastrous end, all combine to plunge you into a state of real suffer ing.” Michel Houlellebecq.as translated by Paul Hammond and printed in the au tumn issue of Granta titled "France." The French really have perfected self loathing, haven't they? “When the speaker calls names I don't pay too much attention. What I try to do is listen to people who have con structive ideas and keep an open mind." U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, quoted in Monday's Regis ter-Guard. If you're looking for con structive ideas, what are you doing in Washington, Janet? “Let me tell you about our profes sion. We are the meanest, nastiest bunch of jealous, petty people who ever lived. You think I wouldn’t sell my mother for My Lair Investigative journalist Sy Hersti, quoted in the November Van ity Fair and reprint ed in the Oct. 13 Newsweek. Hell, there have been days when I’d sell my mother for a good sandwich. “Nevermind chafed thighs and calloused hands; students who ped dle [sic] through campus are facing another problem: theft." From the Octo ber U. Magazine! don't know where the chafed thighs come from, but if you’re selling goods on campus, you’re going to have to expect to be ripped off now and then.