By Jordan Darling, Editor-in-Chief
Let me set the scene. It’s a bright, sunny day and a girl is sitting alone at a table eating her lunch, WITH HEADPHONES IN, and an older gentleman sits down opposite her on the black wrought iron chair.
She smiles politely and resumes eating her lunch never taking her headphones out of her ears or indicating in anyway whatsoever that she was interested in a conversation.
The older gentleman catches her eye and leans over to give her a small bible covered with a bright yellow smiley face and the words “Jesus loves you.” She smiles again and attempts to go back to her lunch CLEARLY dismissing any attempt at conversation.
The guy ignores the girl’s attempts at solitude and begins to chatter at her. Politeness dictates that she takes her headphones out and listens to the man if only for just a moment. After a few moments of the man’s preaching the girl politely says “I’m sorry, thank you for your time but I am Jewish,” she points to the tiny Star of David laying on top of her sweater and then she ATTEMPTS to go back to her lunch and enjoy the last five minutes of solitude.
Soon the “friendly man” now turns a pious red as he begins to spout about the sacrifice and perils of the one and only Jesus Christ. Who according to scripture laid down his life on the cross on behalf of people. “How dare you not appreciate the blood of the lamb!” he would yell at the girl.
The girl gets up and flees to the safety of the employee break room and clocks back in after wasting the last 10 minutes of her lunch being yelled at about religion.
What is wrong with this picture? A lot actually. For one, why in the name of all that is good in the world did the man ignore the universal sign of headphones in means leave me alone? Two, why did he feel like it was his place to preach to the girl about his religion and then criticize her own?
The phenomenon that is so familiar to many is called proselytism, meaning the practice of converting or recruiting one to ones religion.
Proselytism has peppered human history since the beginning and religion has been wielded as a weapon to control populations and justify violence.
The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the forced religious assimilation of the Native Americans throughout the mission system in California, and most recently the extremists that have twisted their religion to justify terror attacks in the name of G-d.
Granted these are extreme ends of the religious conversion spectrum and the story at the beginning was a much smaller incident. On a smaller scale there are a lot of incidents of pushing religious beliefs onto others.
According to the Bill of Rights institute, since the 1940s, the act of soliciting religious information is also protected under the First Amendment. In the court case of Cantwell vs Connecticut the Supreme Court held that “peaceful expression of beliefs is protected by the First Amendment from infringement by not only the federal government, but also by state governments.”
On the West Walkway at CSUDH religious groups will post up and pass out bibles to students attempting to entice them to their church, and while it may make some students and faculty uncomfortable these groups are protected under free speech.
In an incident last spring a man stood in the center of the walkway and preached to students using the scare tactic of hell and brimstone to condemn the LGBTQ+ community and it was once again protected under free speech.
Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are essential parts of the First Amendment and are the building blocks that the United States of America is built on. But impeding another person’s right to enjoy their religious freedom is a direct violation of those rights, in essence your religion is your choice but let others have the same option of choosing their faith.
If a person is genuinely interested in the conversation and seems to be looking for religious guidance then by all means proceed. But if the person clearly indicates that they are not interested in the conversation and tells you that they are not interested then stop.
With the holidays fast approaching, remember to be respectful of others and acknowledge that not everyone shares your faith. A relationship with G-d is between that person and G-d, it is not your job or your place to force a belief onto that person.
