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Christian protesters took over Unity Plaza again on Friday, Oct. 7 gaining attention and angering students for the second time this week.
Protesters yelled at students that they’re all sinners, and one of them attacked a student that was arguing against their claims.
The student, Tobi Adeyemi, pushed the protester back and police rushed to the site to prevent any further physical contact, setting up tables afterwards to separate the two crowds.
Edgar Orea, member of the protest group, said they were targeting the school because it’s full of Muslims.
“Muslims are going to hell. It’s full of people who are having sex before marriage,” he said. “And it’s full of filthy, disgusting homosexuals. Those are going to hell too.”
Orea refused to give the name of his church, and instead said he prefered they were referred to as “believers”.
Brother JK, an organizer of the protest said their intention was to present the truth to the students and doesn’t expect to sway them.
“The Bible says to preach the Bible to every creature,” he said. “We preach the word of God, the Holy Spirit convicts them, the rest is up to them.”
But that’s not the end of sins. Wearing yoga pants is also a sin, according to Pastor Eden from southern Philadelphia.
“Modest is hottest,” he said. But not when you cover your face, he added, as a lot of Muslim women choose to do. “God gave you a face for a reason.”
The group first made an appearance on the Georgia State campus on October 6, when Georgia State police had to escort them out of the Library Plaza, as it’s no longer a free speech area. The protest migrated to the Unity Plaza, in front of Student Center East.
Group members shouted about students’ sins and held signs reading things like “Homos are going to hell”. There was an outcry from students, refusing to accept their discrimination.
One of the many counter-protesters that spoke out against the group on Thursday was Sheena Lanier, a Georgia State student that said, “I normally ignore it, but this was disrespectful coming on campus”.
“This is a peaceful campus, we’re diverse, we’re tolerant on our campus and we don’t tolerate hatefulness on our campus,” Lanier said.
Georgia State sophomore Cole Jones told the Signal the radical Christians should have some affiliation to Georgia State. The fact that none of the radical Christian speakers are students or faculty of Georgia State really bothers him.
“If one of those people were a student then that would be different. I feel like this our space it should stay our space,” he said.
After relocating, one of the protesters continued his spiel by saying “we’re here to tell you that unless you repent, you’re going to burn, burn, burn. Because I look out here and all I see is a bunch of slaves. You’re all slaves. You are slaves to your flesh. You don’t decide where you go and when you do it. Your body and what’s in between your legs decides what you wear”.
The Christian speakers held a sign that read: “Unless They Repent, Let God Burn Them LGBT”.
Sanithia Edwards, a freshman who participated in Pride weekend said she has several close friends who are in the LGBT community. She told The Signal she has seen a lot of suicides related to anti-LGBT speeches.
“It’s so sad that they have to deal with this” Edwards said.
Protesters were asked by police to remain in the grass, and students were told to stand on the concrete to avoid conflict.
A member of the Christian group, Dianna O, claimed this is the most efficient and effective way to spread their message because it is the same format they used to get people to repent in the Bible.
“People don’t like what we say cause it’s hard. This is a hard word. People don’t want to hear about their sins and many people will reject them,” she said.
As the crowd of students grew, they joined to support each other and argue the group’s claims. Student Albert Baglietto said, “There’s nothing wrong with spreading a message, but not if that message is hate. Everybody had a right to their opinion, but what they’re spreading is actually hate.”
Orea viewed their message as anything but hate. “Love,” he explained, “We love sinners and we don’t want them to go to hell. So we bring a loving message to them. They need to repent, if not, they’re going to end up in hell.”
“Some people make mistakes, that is true, but that is when God’s grace and mercy comes in and helps us repent. Not this crap, this is not okay,” Georgia State student Maria Jones said.
O explained they will continue giving the truth to sinners until they repent. Giving the truth was done through judgment. “The word of God is judge them, and we’re using the word of God as a measure,” she says.
Tobi Adeyemi works with The Signal but was not on assignment during the time of the protest. Sean Keenan contributed reporting for this article.
Loe Cole contributed to this article.
