Whenever anyone asks me for a specific example of rape culture, I break open my Bible. Usually, I show them Numbers 31:18, which in combination with Deuteronomy 21:10-14 justifies taking brides (read: sex slaves) by force as spoils of war. I would have said that the New Testament is blissfully free of this sort of horrid pro-rape apologia, but certain Christian street preachers seem to believe that I’ve been overlooking Galatians 6:8.
The facts on the ground remain somewhat sketchy, but Seventeen magazine has a write up, as does The Blaze. It appears that most (if not all) of the details are coming from a particular Facebook post. If the alleged connection to “Brother Dean” Saxton holds up, it would appear that this is not a one-off event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPgk0Hv-eTc
(This video is worth watching for the amazing countertrolling alone.)
In the abovementioned Facebook thread, several commenters chime in to the effect that “Brother Dean” and his comrades should be forcibly removed from campus, and not a few express violent fantasies towards them. This is a perfectly natural reaction, from where I’m sitting, but it remains an open question whether these street preachers have gone so far that we can strip from them the penumbra of protection that we afford to free speech and even undoubtedly hateful speech here in the United States.
It is somewhat instructive to note that had the cameraman’s shirt read “You deserve eternal torture by fire” we would have all agreed—without much debate—that it was an exercise of freedom of speech and religious expression, seeing as that sort of thing is par for the course in the longstanding American tradition of fire-and-brimstone preaching. Personally, I lean towards allowing any and all speech which isn’t openly suborning lawbreaking right there on the spot. I’d rather know about the hateful slut-shaming and modesty culture being promoted by Christian preachers than have them keep their light under a bushel, leaving us outsiders to wonder how hateful Bible-believers can really get.
Your thoughts?
