By: Sophia von Seebach

The Bible Belted Oxford, MS was visited by evangelical religious group who received staunch push-back from students at the University of Mississippi.

On Monday The University of Mississippi became the site of a heated religious debate, with evangelical missionaries on one side and hundreds of students on the other. The protest began when members of the Consuming Fire Fellowship church stood in front of the Student Union on campus to preach the church’s beliefs.

The religious group that started the protest belongs to two separate churches, one being from Livingston, Texas and the other from Gloster, MS. According to Jude Williams, one of the representatives of the church, the group does not belong to any particular denomination. Their website denotes its mission as a hope to “take the gospel to the United States.”

Students were not pleased by the presence of the church or their preachings. “They’re trying to bring people closer to God, but they’re really driving them away,” said Trinity Dod, University of Mississippi student and protest attendee. “They’re not even reading from the bible. They’re holding it but they’re not reading it.”

The protest grew heated when student Zayne Gvance threw a full water bottle at one of the missionaries, Timothy Keaton. “They’re going around telling everyone that they’re demons, they’re all going to hell for not believing the same way and a lot of us [students] don’t like that.” The water bottle did not hit Keaton.

“I don’t know if I’m proud of throwing the water bottle, but I don’t regret it,” said Gvance.

Rose Raby, a student at the University of Mississippi who was also in attendance, also protested against the missionaries. She said that the missionaries were making harmful statements, specifically towards women and the LGBTQ+ community.

“I asked ‘if I were sexually assaulted, would my dad go to hell if he didn’t sell me to my rapist?’ and he didn’t have an answer to that,” said Raby. 

Raby was clearly distraught by the statements of the protesters. “Everyone here is listening to him say all of these horrible things about how women are not equal to men… he kept saying it over and over.”

After multiple attempts to engage in conversation, Raby decided to counter protest by dancing around while playing music from here speaker.

Many other students protested against the missionaries’ presence in similar ways, including singing over the protesters and mimicking the mannerisms of the missionaries.

“We are getting tired of religious oppression. People have the right to believe whatever they want… We are inclusive and we need to allow inclusivity.”

Some students said that the words of the missionaries surpassed free speech. “It was completely hate speech… I was that disgusted,” said Raby.

The University is public property and according to University Policy: DSA.DS 100.001 all free speech is allowed, with or without a permit so long as it is not within earshot of an academic building.

“If they come back, I’m going to bring a louder speaker,” said Raby.