Street preachers ignite debate

An impromptu debate broke out in the University Union Wednesday when two street preachers carrying signs and shouting controversial religious slogans returned to campus for the second time this week.

Frank Zaccaro, one of the preachers, clad in a light gray T-shirt with the slogan “Trust Jesus” emblazoned on the front and back, said he and friend Jeremiah Baldwin travel the country in a shared attempt to spread the word of God.

“We confront people and different, bad religious ideas,” he said. “We want to preach the whole nature of God and present the gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ in hopes that people will trust in Him.”

The crowd of approximately 200 gathered around Zaccaro and seemed to have a different opinion about his message that God hates the sinner as much as He hates the sin.

One onlooker, Scott McCready, a recent graduate of the art and design department currently working on campus, felt he’d had enough of Zaccaro’s “message of hate” and decided to do something about it.

Utilizing a piece of poster board and some felt-tipped markers, McCready made a sign of his own with the word “douchebag” and an arrow pointing toward Zaccaro. The back of the sign read, “God hates fundamentalists.”

He mirrored the preacher’s every step, holding his sign in the air for about 20 minutes before his arms tired.

“I’ve been here for a couple of years now and I’ve seen this every year,” McCready said. “I’ve listened to the arguments and he just preaches hate. I’m tired of coming to a public institution and being accosted by religious fanaticism.

“I did the sign because if you actually get into a verbal argument with him he just speaks louder over you, moves on to someone else or busts out his Bible and wastes time finding an obscure verse that is irrelevant to the conversation. (The sign is) a quick eye reference that lets you know not to trust what this guy is saying.”

As McCready followed Zaccaro, other members of the crowd took turns standing up and sharing their opinions about the preachers, their controversial methods and Christianity in general.

Kyle Herting, a business freshman who defines himself as Christian, said that while he didn’t agree with Zaccaro or Baldwin, he could understand what they were trying to achieve.

“(Zaccaro is) a trust-in-Jesus type guy,” Herting said. “He’s trying to say ‘Trust in Jesus and no one else. God is angry with all sinners… homosexuals, premarital sex, non-believing Jews.’

“I don’t agree with the way he’s preaching right now. He’s judging people and God says it’s not our place to judge.”

Herting said he felt Zaccaro’s preaching style was pushing people away from God more than bringing them to him.

“It’s not my place to judge him though,” he added.

This sentiment was actually echoed by Zaccaro himself when a member of the crowd asked how many people he had seen saved through his methods.

“Honestly? Probably none,” he answered. “I don’t see a whole lot of people get saved.”

Once the “douchebag” sign was retired and the crowd started to dissipate, Baldwin, who had retreated to the shade outside of Chumash Auditorium for a break, returned with a cup of coffee for Zaccaro, calling him a “lovebug” and accusing him, half-jokingly, of taking it “pretty easy on these kids.”

Baldwin, who has been preaching in the street for 44 years and claims to be a former arm-wrestling world champion under the name Jeremiah Christian, resumed where Zaccaro left off, telling the crowd the phrase “God is love” is only found once in the Bible, while verses claiming that “God is a consuming fire” and “God is angry with the wicked every day” are much more prevalent.

“God hates,” he said. “Christianity has gotten soft. The God we preach now is almost like a woman God. A soft God.”

When a voice from the crowd asked “Aren’t women made in God’s image?” Baldwin responded by saying God made man in his image and created woman from man to serve as a “helpmate” and together the two “create something perfect.”

The overall response to this statement was less than positive, but it seemed the majority of the remaining audience had tired of arguing.

English junior Jason Lindo summed up the situation saying, “People aren’t interested in what he’s saying anymore, but just in how he’s saying it.”