A SMALL gang of noisy Christian nitwits were given their marching orders by the residents of a Toronto neighbourhood after the unwelcome god-botherers were assumed to have targeted the home of a gay couple at the weekend.
A row erupted after members of the Highfield Road Gospel Hall in the east end of Toronto invaded the area for an “open-air prayer meeting”, which several residents thought was an attempt to intimidate the couple.
But according to this report, the two men are nonplussed. They say they’ve been living on Highfield Road for a dozen years, have never felt targeted and are surprised at their neighbours’ attempts to defend them.
A member of the evangelical group added:
There was nothing targeted.
He declined to give his name but said he’d been with the group since 1982. He claimed they’ve “never seen anything like the vitriol that’s been posted” in response to Sunday’s encounter, which was shot on video and subsequently went viral.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHpiXmPWPwk[/youtube]
I think somebody perhaps may have leapt to a conclusion that was simply false. And sometimes these things can snowball.
The gospel-hall member insisted the group was simply conducting a prayer session that’s a regular Sunday occurrence during the summer.
If [the allegation of homophobia] had been true, and it’s not, it would have been a dreadful thing. To stand in front of somebody’s house and to say things about that person would be shockingly inappropriate.
He added that the group would likely make a nuisance of themselves on that street again:
Not this year, but yeah, in future years … We certainly are not seeking confrontation with anybody. That’s not in the spirit of Christianity.
Kristen McKay heard the shouting and praying from her Highfield Road home shortly after 8 pm. She went outside and saw about a dozen parishioners, a couple of them with young children. She and several other residents claim their religious exhortations were directed at a house across the street belonging to a gay couple – one of several in the neighbourhood.
I didn’t think people should be degraded or made to feel disgraced or singled out. … And I don’t think they should be here: We’re having a nice, relaxing Sunday, everyone likes each other, we’re good neighbours.
She ran out, followed by her husband, James, and several other residents. The 90-second video shot by neighbour Geoffrey Skelding shows the parishioners in formal Sunday attire, several of them carrying Bibles, being confronted by half a dozen residents. It has since been viewed more than 12,000 times on YouTube, and re-posted on numerous local websites and blogs.
Says a woman in a brimmed hat and turquoise suit:
We have a right to be here.
A man beside her, wielding a Bible, adds that they have:
The authority to preach the gospel. … We’ve been doing this 70 years. In the will of God, next year, we’ll be here.
A resident counters:
We’re not arguing the importance [of your message]. We’re arguing that you’re yelling on the street that is shared by a bunch of neighbours that like each other.
A couple of residents called police about the disturbance, but by the time a pair of cars arrived, most of the group had gone. Toronto police spokeswoman Wendy Drummond said no report has been filed because no complaint has been made.
Residents say they’re considering taking further action if the group comes back.
Said Anna MacKay, who has seen the group on the street before:
To each their own; if somebody is having a sermon outside their house I’m not going to say anything. … [But] if I want to hear you preach, I’ll come to your church. I don’t go stand outside your church and tell you how to live your life. They were talking about blood of the lamb flowing down the street, [and that] we’ll have to pay for our sins.
Jesus on a pogo stick, after 2,000 years you’d think these cretins could come up with some crap we haven’t actually heard before!
Hat tip Sean R
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
August 25th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
You would have thought that after 2,000 years their worthless god would have the entire planet converted. Of course it would help if his message wasn’t so nonsensical that sane people tend to reject it.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
How antisocial is that though. I mean. Don’t these people have any kind of self awareness. Oh sorry. Answered my own question again. I just have too much faith in my fellow man’s level of education, and should be more used to being let down by these very badly behaved child-adults who live with their heads in fairy land!
August 25th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Sorry not linked to this story, but people need to see this…
Contrary to all those bleeding heart liberals/socialists/conservatives
Sharia law is here to stay….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-e.....n-11088841
http://www.manchesterwired.co......ers-murder
Sorry two wrongs do not make it right…
August 25th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
You can imagine a peace silent freethinkers table setup outside their church and the trouble that would cause. Why do we see those types of things more often ?
August 26th, 2010 at 12:47 am
If this is North America and these people come from a Gospel Hall then they are Plymouth Brethren, and this is an “Open Air Meeting” rather than a prayer meeting, I would say. This is when they gather outside people’s houses to scream religious obloquy at them. Why anyone would think that they have the right to act in this way I have no idea, but I used to do it when I was young and thought it quite normal behaviour!
August 26th, 2010 at 8:42 am
“We certainly are not seeking confrontation with anybody. That’s not in the spirit of Christianity.”
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36)
“Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves” (Matthew 21:12)
August 26th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Quote “There was nothing targeted.”
To paraphrase Mandy Rice-Davis: “….he would say that wouldn’t he?”
August 26th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Mike: When rationalists posted ads on buses that told people that they were free to think for themselves all hell broke loose!
August 26th, 2010 at 11:05 am
I would be intrigued to know what the actual conversion rate is from atheist to Christian as a result of standing in the street shouting about Jesus. Or from less noisily taking their sermons door-to-door for that matter.
I might have told this story here before, but one of the most defining spiritual moments of my life occurred when I was about seventeen in the late 90s. I and a few college friends were sitting on a bench in a quiet square chatting and eating lunch when four evangelists lined up literally about ten feet behind us (against a bank) and for several minutes took turns stepping forward and YELLING about Jesus. When they got the message that nobody wanted to know, an elderly member came up to us to push into our hands a tiny booklet called ‘The Wanderer Welcomed’ with a picture of a sheep on the cover. The first page mentioned a ‘lake of fire’ that awaited the non-repented.
Pretty much all there isn’t it? Scare tactics cloaked as concern, unapologetic, even bullishness peace disturbance via turning a public area into a personal pulpit, inferring to strangers that they are mindless farmyard animals in need of help. What a wonderful image of Christianity for beginners! These days of course, street evangelists making fools of themselves do not make me uncomfortable, just provide cheap entertainment
.
Again, where does this behaviour actually get them?
August 26th, 2010 at 11:43 am
Did anyone else notice the size of those Bibles that the Christians are carrying? Must get them from the same place that Stephen Green does!
August 26th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
“……a woman in a brimmed hat and turquoise suit…..”
I am reminded of Douglas Adams who said:
“Here the man in blue crimplene accosted us once more but we patiently explained to him that he could fuck off.”
August 27th, 2010 at 11:11 am
The most interesting aspect for me, was that the non gay neighbors, came out to defend the gays. This is an example of American community spirit at its best. Proof also of a considerable change in mental attitudes in the last few years.
August 27th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
It was Toronto, FedupwithR: I think the Canadians have always been far more laid back than their American neighbours, though attitudes there do seem to be changing quite quickly now.
August 28th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
FFS why do they always pretend they have to spread their bullshit around? We’ve all heard it thousands of times. People who want to hear more know where to go. The rest don’t want those idiots disturbing them in their own neighborhoods.
August 31st, 2010 at 2:47 am
Here in Australia, religious wankers don’t get a look in. People that preach loudly are generally considered a bit silly and taken away by men in white coats. We don’t get too many door knockers any more either. Just the occasional mormon person on a pushbike. The easiest way to get rid of them is to stagger to the front door with a joint, cup of coffee and a strong scotch & coke. That tends to shut them up, even before commencing to explain why their belief system is a total nonsense.