Re: Should Street Preaching be Banned in the USA?

[aitm]

On one hand most street preachers are seen as loonies and much of that opinion is then shared in some degree about their religion. To the casual passer-by, since most preachers are rather bombastic and wail about sin and punishment the most, this attitude can be seen by some as a generally not-loving god. I think these help send people scurrying away from religion.
  As for the hinderance to traffic and pedestrians in general I like to throw rocks at them, but that it seems, is illegal.

[JonathanG]

Freedom of speech necessarily includes the right to annoy and offend.  Otherwise, why would would it need special protection?

Just because they are "generally not nice people and they have nothing real to protest" doesn't mean anything.  By whose definition are they not nice or their protest meaningless?  What's worth protesting is entirely subjective.  I'm guessing you wouldn't want to stop a person from handing out takeout menus in front of their own restaurant on the grounds that it disrupts business at nearby restaurants.

[Krayzie6682]

I answer your question with a question. I know that isn't the best way to answer, but there is a point. Do you appreciate YOUR right to free speech? If so, there is no basis to say it should be outlawed. Otherwise one day when you are telling people what you believe, if they don't agree, you could lose your rights as well. As for my opinion, I am a Christian, so I don't believe it should be. I often find it odd that people claim to not believe in God, but they sure do seem to fear what people say about Him. If you don't believe, who cares what the street preachers say, right? I think we all have the right to say what we want, so long as it is not violating the First Amendment guidelines.

[Krayzie6682]

I answer your question with a question. I know that isn't the best way to answer, but there is a point. Do you appreciate YOUR right to free speech? If so, there is no basis to say it should be outlawed. Otherwise one day when you are telling people what you believe, if they don't agree, you could lose your rights as well. As for my opinion, I am a Christian, so I don't believe it should be. I often find it odd that people claim to not believe in God, but they sure do seem to fear what people say about Him. If you don't believe, who cares what the street preachers say, right? I think we all have the right to say what we want, so long as it is not violating the First Amendment guidelines.

I think on some level if I have freedom of religion and the right to worship as I want, then my rights are being violated if a Christian uses undo verbal force to chastise me. I should be able to complain to a policeman, that my right to worship as I choose is not being respected by an aggressive Christian, who is pushing his views on me as I walk by.

I'm sorry, but I don't see how someones words could possibly stop you from excersising your right to do so. If they physically do something to you, than you have the right to get a cop and take action. But lets be honest and mature here, you don't have to listen to what people say. If they are in public domain, they have the right to voice their opinions just like you do. I am Christian, and i'll tell you that I believe you have the right to say whatever you want about God, life, and whatever else you choose. That needs to be an open highway, not a one way street. Case in point, back in WWII a pastor had a famous quote. When Hitler was taking over Germany and persecuting people this pastor did not act. He said in reflection,

 First they came for the Communists,
 and I didn't speak up,
 because I wasn't a Communist.
 Then they came for the Jews,
 and I didn't speak up,
 because I wasn't a Jew.
 Then they came for the Catholics,
 and I didn't speak up,
 because I was a Protestant.
 Then they came for me,
 and by that time there was no one
 left to speak up for me.

Point being, if you allow the rights of people you don't agree with to be violate, it's only a matter of time before yours will also be violated. Food for thought friend.

Edit- I found the exact quote. Man did I ever get the quote wrong the first time lol.

[Poison Tree]

I think street preachers should follow whatever laws apply to panhandling/ street preforming in the area. If I can't stand on the corner attracting a crowd to watch my organ grinder, then the preacher can't either. If I can, then he can. Simple. His religion gives him no exclusion from the law, not should it cause any specific restriction against him. Secularism.

[_Xenu_]

I'm sorry, but I don't see how someones words could possibly stop you from excersising your right to do so. If they physically do something to you, than you have the right to get a cop and take action. But lets be honest and mature here, you don't have to listen to what people say. If they are in public domain, they have the right to voice their opinions just like you do. I am Christian, and i'll tell you that I believe you have the right to say whatever you want about God, life, and whatever else you choose. That needs to be an open highway, not a one way street.

Lifelong atheist here, and I agree with the above. Free speech is free speech. Yes, street preachers can be annoying, but thats not grounds to silence them. Trying to silence your opposition is, IMHO, a sign of intellectual cowardice. While I do feel for those other businesses in the same building as Planned Parenthood, the Constitution is quite clear about this.

[_Xenu_]

The conclusion of this thread and my desire then is that I am immigrating to a land that has less freedom.

May I suggest Cuba?

[PickelledEggs]

I'm sorry, but I don't see how someones words could possibly stop you from excersising your right to do so. If they physically do something to you, than you have the right to get a cop and take action. But lets be honest and mature here, you don't have to listen to what people say. If they are in public domain, they have the right to voice their opinions just like you do. I am Christian, and i'll tell you that I believe you have the right to say whatever you want about God, life, and whatever else you choose. That needs to be an open highway, not a one way street.

Lifelong atheist here, and I agree with the above. Free speech is free speech. Yes, street preachers can be annoying, but thats not grounds to silence them. Trying to silence your opposition is, IMHO, a sign of intellectual cowardice. While I do feel for those other businesses in the same building as Planned Parenthood, the Constitution is quite clear about this.

Agreed. It goes both ways.

They have a right to say what they want. As does anyone else that wants to.

I personally think street preaching should not only be allowed, but encouraged. I say atheists should do some guerrilla christian style street preaching.

[Shiranu]

>Hates Christians in Public
>Wants to move to Latin America



P.S. - Germany and Russia are pretty Christian as well.

[the_antithesis]

Maybe requiring a license would reduce the amount of rabble and at least cost them money to annoy people.

[stromboli]

Utah doing it! We can beat these people by banning street preachers. It hurts their more activist mentality and declaws them.

http://mormoninfo.org/discussion/street ... ies-hb-131

As noted in the article, Utah is 70-75% Mormon and the church does not put people on the street to preach. The street preachers that are being dealt with are Christians that are attacking the LDS church. The LDS temple in Salt Lake is right downtown- the city was basically built around it- and twice a year they have General Conference, when the Mormon Faithful (brainwashed) attend. This is when the protesters are there, and considered to be a huge nuisance because the city streets are right outside the Temple grounds. Even though the Temple Grounds are walled in, the area adjacent is essentially considered as "temple square" during those times. The local head of the ACLU is an ex-Mormon BYU graduate and gay, so this always gets interesting.  :-D

[Pancakes]

Ban preaching? No.
However if they are disturbing peace, trespassing, threatening others, or being an inconsiderate fuckwad, then they should not be allowed to preach. But if they do preach on the streets, it should be on the closest interstate.

[Atheon]

The street preachers I saw as a kid gave me the impression that they were totally insane. I'm not the only one who garnered such an impression from them.

Let them speak, and let them show the world how crazy they are.

[ApostateLois]

There should be limits on where they can preach. If they interfere with businesses and prevent people from going into a building, they should be removed from the area and told to go preach somewhere else. I'm pretty sure that if anyone else were to do those things, they'd be chased off by the cops, no matter what they were preaching about.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Freedom of speech protects street preachers in the USA. People use Freedom of Speech and right to assembly to protest causes they believe in. Generally they do not protest everyday in every city, aside from Washington D.C., which may have more protests than normal cities. However, street preachers like to preach regularly on every main street.  Only occasionally the women in black or someone protesting GMO foods from Monsanto might stage a protest.

They are generally not nice people and they have nothing real to protest, no special cause. Mostly, they disrupt pedestrian traffic and commerce. I know personally of a restaurant that was shut down from street preachers protesting a neighbouring Planned Parenthood office. Note also that Planned Parenthood was not the only office in the building, and by standing in front of it with disgusting signs of aborted foetuses, they were disrupting a neighbouring restaurant and all other office workers.

Since they disrupt commerce in busy streets, it could be a very real plan to ban them from busy streets and give them some other venue of protest, like allowing street preachers only to protest in front of a city hall.  It is an abuse of Freedom of Speech and should be curtailed.

Street Preaching was recently banned on Bourbon Street in New Orleans because it disrupts pedestrian activity and business, as well as infringing on other people's rights to religion who may not be a Christian.

I think the freedom of speech is more important than the freedom from offense, which is clearly the real issue here.

If you don't like their message, walk on by.

Life's hard.  Get a helmet.