Meyerhoff Park became the center of heated religious debate
Thursday afternoon when a platform speaker urged students to listen
and react to his ideas regarding Christianity and the Ten
Commandments.
The speaker was Ray Comfort, an Evangelist who said he was
invited by Campus Crusades for Christ to inform the UCLA campus
about Christianity.
“We’re out here today to show people how to find
eternal light in heaven and God,” said Rick Hart, one of the
volunteers passing out flyers with Comfort’s message.
Comfort and the volunteer group were confronted with a mass of
about 50 students who were more than willing to speak out against
his ideas.
Comfort’s debate centered on issues such as breaking the
Ten Commandments, science confirming the Bible and eternal
salvation.
He pulled participants from the audience by offering cash prizes
for people who could answer questions unrelated to religion, such
as how many people die in car accidents, said Shawn Harris, an
audience member who was visiting UCLA from Northern California.
Once students were standing at the microphone, he questioned
them about their adherence to the Ten Commandments. After he spoke
for an hour, students remained empty-handed.
“If you answer the question correctly, you get money, and
then, suddenly, he’s talking about the Bible,” Harris
said, explaining his confusion about Comfort’s purpose.
Comfort told the crowd they would have to face the consequences
of breaking commandments after they died.
Although some applause broke through in support of Comfort, most
of the students cheered for the opposition.
“I think we have the right to freedom of expression of
religion, but he is trying to shove (his views) down people’s
throats,” said Demetrious Polychron, first-year graduate film
student, one of the students who took to the microphone for
debate.
The debate was one-sided and did not allow the students to
adequately defend their own beliefs, Polychron added.
“When I started saying something he didn’t want to
hear, he would cut the (microphone) out,” he said.
After the debate, a handful of students approached Comfort to
show their support.
Other students found Comfort well-meaning, but wrong in his
interpretations saying that science supports the Bible.
“Personally I think (Comfort) is wrong, but his intentions
are … to help others,” said Gil Rosen, third-year
electrical engineering student.
Rosen and his friend, Bassel Rifai, second-year electrical
engineering student, did not agree with the pamphlets Comfort
passed out connecting scientific facts to passages in the Bible as
proof that science confirms the text.
Despite the dissension, Comfort was satisfied with the
students’ feedback.
“When a Christian preaches the gospel, (the response) is
always negative. I’ve been beaten up and things like that,
but it’s normal,” he said after the debate.
He found the audience to be very nice, and said he was willing
to go anywhere people will listen.
Comfort explained his reasons for converting to Christianity and
spreading its message.
“The knowledge that everything I loved was going to be
ripped from my hands by death. That’s what made me open my
heart and … look to the Bible,” Comfort said.