Editor’s Note: As of Sept. 23, chalk has been banned from the Johnson Campus.
It all started at a bonfire.
The Johnson Campus Activity Board held a wonderful hangout event on the Quad, complete with smores, music, lawn games, and sidewalk chalk. During the event, students decorated the area with self-portraits and hopscotch, flowers and inspirational quotes. Students played keep-up and sat together in the rainbow-colored Adirondack chairs. The fun lasted until late that night, and students went home (more or less) in good spirits.
The chalk was left out that night, which initially posed no issues. The following evening, inspirational messages had spread to various sections of the campus. Some were simple, reading things like “You are loved” and “Jesus loves you,” while others included short Bible verses. Naturally, as a campus with both a religious and secular population, some students left replies to Bible references.
“Kinky,” read one response to John 3:16, on the path between Willey and Bentley. Another response, “Not me <3” left beneath “Jesus Loves you.” Students would be seen walking past and reading the messages, some in confusion, others with laughter. Though the banter was odd, it wasn’t a problem. It showed that the community had the ability to coexist despite a difference in beliefs. It wasn’t until a few days later, when other responses began to show, that a problem became apparent.
“Whoever keeps writing this shit, please stop,” appeared written in black chalk in front of Stearns Dining Hall. Another, closer to Bentley, reads, “Please stop writing this, it makes me uncomfortable.” The issue resulted in an SGA discussion and the removal of the chalk from the area. No more writing.
My response? Please, heal your religious trauma. Start a support group, or talk to someone. The Wellness Center would love to have you.
As a person raised in and around the church consistently for the first 12 years of my life, I sympathize with those of you who feel animosity or discomfort toward Christianity and its messages. Many interpretations of the Christian Bible, along with many popular Christian beliefs, are harmful and dangerous in so many ways, actively affecting our cultural climate; it is understandable that some of you may feel unsafe when in or around a Christian environment. It is okay to not be okay with that.
This, however, is a college campus, and you are reading chalk on the ground.
I, myself, was tempted to write “Hail Satan” somewhere on the quad, and I was eagerly waiting for someone to write a verse from the Quran or RuPaul’s Drag Race. If someone had written a Nicki Minaj verse, then I would have understood the anger. But not one message (that I viewed) preached any form of hate or intolerance. It felt as though my grandmother said, “God willing,” after telling me she was turning 65. There are Christian students on this campus, and they deserve to feel comfortable telling you a random man in the sky loves you for who you are, even if you don’t agree that man exists.
Naturally, there are nuances there, and again, I understand. But you are not being attacked; you are not being targeted. You weren’t asked to attend service on Sunday or Wednesday’s Bible study. Someone wrote “Love yourself and other people” in their own way, and you took it personally.
You could have shrugged your shoulders and kept walking, or pretend it wasn’t written for you, just like you ignore CAB advertisements for shows and events. All you had to do was look and think, “ok” and keep walking.
College is the place for you to expand your horizons, learn, and grow as a somewhat-functioning (used very loosely, for some of you) member of society. If you can’t learn to live and breathe peacefully around Satanists, Buddhists, and Christians (who make up 30 percent of the population, by the way), how do you expect to … live?
Did you know that telling someone “Goodbye” derives from Christianity? Yes! It is the shortened form of “God be with ye,” dating to the late 1560’s. Turns out, you Jesus-haters have been saying his name this whole time!
This is not meant to “ah-ha!” trick you into accepting Christianity into your hearts, or to convince you to enroll in your nearest Missionary Baptist church, but as a reminder that you are surrounded with and influenced by beliefs and opinions that are not your own. Use context clues and common sense: do you think the writers of these messages intented to hurt you? Convert you to Christianity? Give people a little grace.
This is me reminding you that tolerance goes both ways. The same way you would have no problem if someone wrote “Be gay, do drugs,” in the front of Govs (I’ve seen it) you should have no problem with someone writing “Love your enemy as yourself.”
And before you say, “It’s not the same!”: Obviously, being queer and being Christian are two different things. The scenario is the same though. It is a comparison. We learned this in middle school.
-Dayne Bell
