fayfreethinkers.com

Tampa, Florida –

By: Valerie Boey

Tampa, Florida – After five months of uninvited visitors outside of Mons Venus, owner Joe Redner had had enough. The protesters frequented the outside of the establishment.

Preachers Larry Keffer and Micah Armstrong, of the Biblical Research Center, protested outside of the strip club Saturday night. Redner said the group has protested in the past, but Saturday’s event was the most disruptive, including a megaphone.

The group was yelling at patrons as the entered and exited the building, shouting at patrons. “God is not impressed with the size of your breasts! God is not impressed with your talent!” yelled one of the protesters.

Keffer said that Redner reacted inappropriately to their protest when he came out of the building. “Redner came out there, basically crazy, running around with an air horn,” Keffer said. “I think [he busted] our ear drums, to be quite honest.”

At one point, the argument turned to homosexuality.

Armstrong claims that Redner assaulted them, saying, “He hit Larry and touched me a couple of times.” While the video does show Redner around the group, it didn’t actually capture an assault. Redner denies the claim.

The street preachers do not intend to file a police report. Instead, they hope their message goes to the people that frequent Mons Venus, saying, “They’re living in sin, and if they continue to live that way, they’re going to go to hell.”

Redner plans to combat further protests with “a louder air horn” and a noise meter.

link

A student got arrested for using a bullhorn to counter Moses a week or so back. I keep thing we ought to just provide the audience with whistles and let them "tweet" him.

Barbara Fitzpatrick wrote:A student got arrested for using a bullhorn to counter Moses a week or so back. I keep thing we ought to just provide the audience with whistles and let them "tweet" him.

He got arrested because he was "demonstrating" without a permit.

This reminds me, I am really sick and tired of the religious nuts who hang out on Dickson Street at night, carrying those big crosses and signs. They didn't bother me too much until lately, when they've started yelling at people and harrassing them (if they've always done that, I never noticed it before, they always seemed to just be quietly standing there with their signs in the past). Fayetteville has a sign ordinance; I think those big crosses are in violation of that ordinance. They could even be dangerous, if one was ever dropped on someone. Also, yelling insults and what could be construed as threats to people who are just walking along the sidewalk is harrassment.

Betsy wrote:This reminds me, I am really sick and tired of the religious nuts who hang out on Dickson Street at night, carrying those big crosses and signs. They didn't bother me too much until lately, when they've started yelling at people and harrassing them (if they've always done that, I never noticed it before, they always seemed to just be quietly standing there with their signs in the past). Fayetteville has a sign ordinance; I think those big crosses are in violation of that ordinance. They could even be dangerous, if one was ever dropped on someone. Also, yelling insults and what could be construed as threats to people who are just walking along the sidewalk is harrassment.

Shall we plan a meet-and-roast on the corner of Dickson and West on Friday night? Those two fellows with the tiny stool and the sandwich board sign already know me better than they'd like to...

Well, maybe not this weekend due to the holiday, but perhaps sometime...

i'd rather just complain to city government about their sign ordinance violation and their harrassment and have them removed!

Yes I agree. These new noisy assholes are Ray Comfort imports, not the usual nice quiet independant pentacostal/milennialist types that used to be around. A couple of months ago I chided them for yelling at people and roasted a bit of their anti-homosexual anti-evolution nonsense.
We could easily whip up some funny signs and have a little fun. The response will be very positive as long as it is in good humor and not seen as a threat to the other guys. We could promote the usual... rationality, the truth about the Bible and hand-out some of our material. Might make the news. These religious nuts make for a very fertile ground for a freethinker message. People know or feel that these guys are wrong but they just don't have the tools and Bible knowledge to respond to their stupidity. We do. Bigtime.

D.

Try roasting them (& doing a bit of "proselytizing") and see what happens. Can always fall back on reporting them if they get nasty(ier).

no matter what anybody does, it will just empower them further. If you go roast them, they'll just think they're fighting against Satan and they'll rally up more. If we report them and they get removed, probably just temporarily, they'll be convinced that the forces of evil are against them and they'll rally up even more. Probably the best thing for everyone to do is just ignore them, but for that to work EVERYONE would have to just ignore them.

Betsy wrote:no matter what anybody does, it will just empower them further. If you go roast them, they'll just think they're fighting against Satan and they'll rally up more.

Last time I stopped to talk to the guys I mentioned earlier, they left. They may think I'm the devil, but that's because they're pathetic street preachers, not because they got roasted. I say, if they want attention, let's give it to them.

Savonarola wrote:They may think I'm the devil, but that's because they're pathetic street preachers, not because they got roasted. I say, if they want attention, let's give it to them.

DOUG
I agree. I'm for roasting them. Maybe later we can go with the funny and get some signs.

Betsy wrote:no matter what anybody does, it will just empower them further. If you go roast them, they'll just think they're fighting against Satan and they'll rally up more. If we report them and they get removed, probably just temporarily, they'll be convinced that the forces of evil are against them and they'll rally up even more. Probably the best thing for everyone to do is just ignore them, but for that to work EVERYONE would have to just ignore them.

DOUG
You have a point, but I think we may as well use them for our own amusement and roast them. If they're going to be there anyway, at least for a while, we may as well get a good laugh out of them. Telling them the truth may not have any effect on them, but it'll (a) make us feel better, and (b) MAYBE plant a seed of doubt in one of them.

Betsy's right that they'd go away if everybody ignored them - so would Moses - but everybody isn't going to ignore them, so you guys have your laughs by roasting them. You probably won't 'plant a seed' with them, but you might with their listeners.

Barbara Fitzpatrick wrote:Betsy's right that they'd go away if everybody ignored them - so would Moses - but everybody isn't going to ignore them, so you guys have your laughs by roasting them. You probably won't 'plant a seed' with them, but you might with their listeners.

DOUG
We roasted them. They had a kid with them that looked 18 or so. Poor kid, he's taking stupid lessons. He asked incredulously if we really thought that there were NOT anymore dinosaurs.

I gave him a good talking to, and informed him that if he kept listening to these dopes he's consorting with, he'll probably end up a fool for the majority of his adult life, at least. Maybe it planted a seed.

By the way, the kid did not believe our claim that Hovind is in jail and facing serious prison time. I told him I'd like to see the expression on his face when he finds out that what we are telling him about Hovind is true.

If the kid was as old as 18 (or even 16) it's probably too late. If they haven't started asking questions - at least to themselves, if it isn't safe to ask them aloud - by age 13, they are generally owned, body and soul.