Protesters Demand Students Repent

Students walking down George Street on Nov. 5 and 6 were distracted by two men wearing sandwich boards preaching to a group of students outside the Cistern. What began as a clash of beliefs grew into a spectacle with a crowd of onlookers.

North Carolina-based Pinpoint Evangelism is a non-denominational Christian group that travels across the U.S. preaching to college campuses. Kerrigan Skelly and John McGlone arrived at C of C around 11 a.m. both days to implore students to repent for their sins.

Miles Lewis is a friend of Skelly and McGlone from Syracuse, N.Y. He supported Pinpoint and talked to the crowd.

“We are here to preach the gospel and to give apologetics to the students as a reason to change,” Lewis said.

Lewis remained unaffected despite raised voices and hot tempers.

“We want open dialogue. It is one of our goals to provoke discussion,” said Lewis. “It always goes between civil and rowdy throughout the day and a lot of people just want to show off in front of their friends.”

Many students vocally disagreed with the Pinpoint representatives, who preached about evolution, homosexuality, Mormonism, Roman Catholicism, birth control, Barack Obama, judgment, what makes a sinner, sex and masturbation, and the apocalypse.

Junior Holly Cian, who listened for a while amidst the chaos, was skeptical.

“I can’t really take them too seriously. Anyone can stand up there and say God told them to do something,” Cian said.

Freshman Ryan Commesso was frustrated with Pinpoint after arguing with McGlone for 20 minutes.

“I disagree with everything he said. I am a spiritual person, and I don’t like that he called me a filthy sinner,” Cimmesso said.

Other students, like sophomore Stephan Amann, stayed for entertainment.

“I just think it’s funny. I’m just here to watch him yell and point fingers,” Amann said.

Sophomore Mitchell Warnick has seen Pinpoint in Charleston before.

“They come every year, sometimes more than once a year. It’s different people preaching but it’s always entertaining,” Warnick said.

The controversy came to a climax with an altercation between Kerrigan and city police. Officer Holum told Kerrigan and his evangelical team to move along.

“In America I have the freedom of speech and religion. I like this spot. You can disperse the crowd. That is your job,” Kerrigan told Holum.

As the city police gathered, they argued with Kerrigan about whether or not they needed a permit for their demonstration.

Officer York was among the team of police.

“I asked them nicely to leave and they refuse. We can’t come to a mutual agreement,” he said.

Ultimately the officers decided to watch and keep order. Pinpoint returned the next day as planned and continued their attempt to convince the students of C of C to repent.