UB is the kind of campus where one can believe in anything that he wants without much of a problem from others who do not share in his faith. Here, we can find a small party that celebrates almost every major denomination of religion and creed.
That is why it is only reasonable to tolerate the propagandists who hover around Founders Plaza, handing out booklets that attempt to convert non-believers into God-fearing Christians.
Accommodating religious views, even those that have existed for millennia, is part of coexisting peacefully; Christians will try to turn you with their beliefs, but if the looming threat of hell does not scare you, then they are just as innocuous as anyone else that makes faith a public affair.
But such means of religious dissemination shed light on a narrow-mindedness that supports a continuing double standard. And it makes for an uncomfortable situation for good people who get caught in the middle of differing ideologies.
If there were instead a Muslim missionary passing out similar pamphlets on behalf of his or her own religion, zealous American passersby would probably get malignant. But Christian missionaries do the same thing, essentially.
Christian propaganda, in contrast, is generally taken in stride, as most students, it seems, can ignore it or write it off as another campus annoyance.
The content, however, of these leaflets can be rather distressing. Some of them spread fear as a means of boosting a following.
Threatening eternal damnation to a college student that did not "accept Jesus into his heart" seems to be a rather antagonistic way of gaining a constituency and completely contrary to the teachings of who Christians say is the son of the one and only benevolent god.
One such booklet at another college read, "All liberal arts majors will suffer the wrath of hell." Others threaten the same fate to those that do not pray or to people that do not confess their "sins."
Such fear mongering is actually persuasive to temperamental minds. Years of fear and loathing have given the church rampant pseudo-credibility, even when it comes to topics beyond the reasonable jurisdiction of religion.
But being above the influence of fear includes being tolerant of those that spread it. They have every right to scare anyone they want, believe it or not.
And religion is an uncomfortable issue in general. Believers that walk by demonstrators may feel uncomfortably obligated to support the missionaries, while non-believers uncomfortably deal with the choice between rudely walking past the missionaries and politely listening to someone who is throwing his religion at them.
Like any demonstrator who raises his voice above the crowd's murmur, missionaries make people uncomfortable. Like gypsies or street vagrants, religious demonstrators force their presence into the realm of awkward reality.
Tolerance is the only way to peacefully deal with anyone, including propagandists, because louder voices will make their issue your business whether you like it or not.
