By Chris Badeaux
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 22, 1997

Let Heaven rejoice and Earth be deaf

Arizona Daily Wildcat Chris Badeaux

So I went out to the Mall the other day on the way to Bear Down, and I heard the usual assortment of travelin' preacher men yelling about, in no particular order, salvation, damnation, fornication, salivation, and Student Union privatization.

I am very religious, but even though I spent a lot of time growing up in the Bible Belt, I've never been into the whole fire and brimstone evangelization thing. That notwithstanding (and despite the fact that a lot of these guys are decidedly anti-Catholic), I honestly couldn't care less what, how, or when these guys decide to preach. I'm pretty secure in my faith; as far as I'm concerned, they've got nothing to say to me. I therefore pay them the appropriate level of attention.

Not everyone shares my outlook.

As is usual in the first few months of the school year, there's been a lot of written and spoken sentiment that basically boils down to this: The Mall is a public area, and, as such, shouldn't be a de facto church for whatever yahoo comes down the pike. Moreover, and this is the real sting, a lot of students have to cross the Mall to get to classes; why should they be impeded and harassed on the way to their classes?

Of course, these opinions usually come from people who have no problem with ASUA holding a diversity fair, KAMP playing Top 40 music that hasn't been Top 40 since just after the Gulf War, and Sports Illustrated erecting a massive monument to the commercialization of college athletics - all on that same Mall.

Oh, but that's different, those people would argue. Those Mall preachers are talking about religion. Implicit in that argument, of course, is that moralized lecturing, bad hip-hop, and garish, corporate-logo tents have more right to be on a public campus than people expressing legitimate, if controversial, religious beliefs. Behind that lies the presumption that unpopular notions can be eliminated if they are suppressed.

Sure.

If you don't like what those Mall preachers are saying, guess what? Tough shit. As American citizens, we have the civil right to free speech, freedom of assembly, and a battery of other liberties, not a one of which is the right not to be offended. We have the right not to be slandered; having a thin skin, though, does not entitle you to any special privileges. I find certain opinions concerning abortion, infanticide, and aspects of other cultures so nauseating that I have difficulty speaking about them with level tones; however, the holders, and speakers, of these opinions have as much right to speak them as I have to complain about them. I wouldn't have it any other way.

In fact, if we did have it another way, it would probably be like this: The freedom of speech which we so unconsciously enjoy would be compromised, if not destroyed. For every screwball out there who wants to establish some sort of theocracy, there's another nutcase who wants to ban religion altogether, and yet another who wants them to both shut up. Give any one of these the power to determine who is allowed a voice and who is not, and we suddenly end up in 1984, The Handmaid's Tale, and any of hundreds of other accounts of intellectual totalitarianism, fictional and true.

To all of you who still don't get it, grow up. That freedom of speech thing also entitles you to go up and express your opinion to whomever offends you. The guys on the Mall live for the opportunity to show off their rhetorical skills; they'll be happy to accommodate.

If that isn't your cup of tea, just learn from the example of the monkey house. If you've ever been to an old fashioned, open-cage monkey house at a zoo, you'll know that the smell is enough to knock you off your feet. Hang around for a little while, though, and you don't even notice it. In other words, do what I do: Ignore the Mall preachers. They don't go away, but to all intents and purposes, they're just background noise.

And if all else fails, start screaming back. You have that right.

Chris Badeaux is the Opinions Editor.