Many students at Christopher Newport University were surprised when they got an email on Tuesday from Dean of Students Kevin Hughes. In this email, he notified students that on Wednesday, Sept.16, street evangelist/open air preacher Don Karns was going to be in Trible Plaza during the lunch hour. The preacher had been on CNU"s campus before, but this time had actually reserved the courtyard to preach.
The last time Preacher Don Karns came, it was not so peaceful.
"Last time it was rumored that things got pretty out of hand and that screaming arguments broke out , profanity, etc.," said Luke Taylor, the president of THRIVE.
Kevin Hughes let us know that Karns was practicing his First Amendment right to free speech, which is something that should be respected.
CNU's LGBTQ+ student alliance organization Spectrum was also holding an event in Trible Plaza during the lunch hour. The event was called "Share The Love," in which students from the organization aimed to bring as many genders, religions, sexualities and races as possible together to express their joy for life and love for people.
With the news that these two events would be taking place at the same place and at the same time, people were expecting something to go down Wednesday.
Instead, what happened was the peaceful coexistence of these two groups. Don Karns got to speak, and other ministries on campus shared their love for Jesus through worship songs. Spectrum held up "Share the Love" signs and rainbow flags, and talked to Captains on campus about love and acceptance.
Students who came and saw the event take place had mixed opinions about it.
Photo via Instagram
"He [Karns] was able to speak, and we just made sure our presence was known," said Sarah Kerndt, the president of Spectrum. "The idea was to remain peaceful, so we respected his right to speak.The whole idea was just to share the love. Love is a complicated word, but in the end everyone deserves love. Everyone deserves to feel happy and respected. Yesterday was truly an incredible sight to see because I know now that I go to a school where Captains truly accept and care for one another."
"I think a lot of people showed up prepared for confrontation, even peaceful confrontation, and they listened not to understand, but to respond," said sophomore Will Libby. "That said, I still admire their goals, just as I admire the goals of Don and his team. Though I think Don, Spectrum and I may all disagree on how we should go about accomplishing those goals."
"I just feel like the whole 'protest' was a little ridiculous," another sophomore shared anonymously. "CNU is full of smart people, and they should know that the preacher guy was not a good representation of christianity. I just feel like giving a crazy person attention is not what you should do. And Spectrum being there just made it worse. It wasn't necessary."
"I thought it was beautiful how our campus and our ministries stood up for true love and didn't let someone else [Karns] steal our freedom through Christ's love to be washed away by his freedom of speech," said sophomore Sarah Clark. "I am hopeful that the truth about Jesus and his tremendous love — which covers over everyone who comes to Him — is made known through the conversations that flow from this event."
"It was just a really cool opportunity to love the LGBTQ community, to love the campus, and even love my brothers in Christ (the preachers) and get back to the heart of the Gospel -- that Jesus Christ died so we could have life and live to the fullest," said Luke Taylor, the president of THRIVE. "That was really the heart behind it, and I was honored to partner with Spectrum at that event because I believe 100 percent that God does love them so much!"
Photo via Instagram
What did you think of the event? Leave your opinion in the comments. Please share!
