Preachers denounce students

Several fundamentalist Christians visited USC on Thursday afternoon, railing against gays, Catholics, sex, alcohol, cigarettes and "atheist university professors."

Before long, they had built a congregation of about 50 students, informing them "that burning fire down in your bosom is sin."

"Brother" John Duncan initially addressed students from the Greene Street sidewalk, near Preston College. When USC police asked him to leave, he stepped into the street, off USC property. Duncan said he was a regular preacher at the University of Georgia, where "they have freedom of speech."

Police eventually moved him to the Russell House Patio.

"OK, everyone, I'm going to the free-speech area, now," he announced, to cheers.

According to USC policy for visiting speakers, "the campus is open to free discussion" amid "conditions consistent with the scholarly nature of an academic community."

However, USC's discrimination policy expressly forbids racial harassment that "creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive" environment.

Second-year print journalism student Charlotte Taylor said Duncan began harassing her on the street.

"He just started screaming at us and told us the pope is going to hell, and he blasphemed the Madonna, which is really offensive," she said. Several students said they were horrified when he declared the pope was burning in hell.

Matt Callis, associate pastor at the Shack, said he was dismayed by the scene.

"I don't know what he represents, but that's definitely not Christianity," he said.

Callis said he hoped USC students wouldn't lump all Christians into a group with Thursday's campus visitors.

"It sucks," he said. "People will look at that and think, 'well, if that's Christianity, then I don't want to be a Christian.'"

On his Web site at gospeljohn.com, Duncan describes himself as a born-again, Trinitarian, Holiness Pentecostal, and describes mission trips to 93 campuses in 33 states. The site includes articles on a variety of subjects, including freedom of speech, evolution and love advice.

First-year print journalism student Grace Bowles said she had also been offended by the tirade, and that USC students had only congregated to mock the speakers.

"Everybody's yelling at him, and there've been several Wendy's cups thrown at him," she said.

Undeterred, Duncan accused a man in the audience of murder and drunkenness.

"What are you going to do when you stand before judgment?" he asked.

"Probably drink," the man replied.

Third-year journalism student Anna-Marie Prete explained the haranguing her peers had received before USC police moved Duncan to the Russell House patio.

"It's because we all live in Preston, and we're all sinners, because Preston is the gay dorm," she said. "That was sarcasm."

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