The weekend of October 23 - 25, Nashville, TN, was host to the 2020 Street and Open Air Preacher Conference. However, this is one conference the Tourism Bureau and the city could probably do without.

Street preachers, or “open air” preachers have been a growing phenomenon over the years, and the conference brought hundreds of them to Nashville. Of them, Ruben Israel is the best known, having been featured on VICELAND’s "Hate Thy Neighbor" series.

The street preachers’ favorite tool isn’t really the Bible; it's the bullhorn, and the hate-filled banner. The preachers say the goal is to bring people to Jesus, to “repent”, but really the goal is to shock and provoke. They go wherever people gather – to festivals, especially Pride festivals, to mosques, to college campuses, to bars, to casinos. Unfortunately, reproductive health clinics also suffer visits from them as well.

NO ONE should have to be bothered with these people aggressively and relentlessly demanding we all follow THEIR chosen religion. However, people seeking care at clinics ESPECIALLY shouldn’t be subjected to these aggressive “preachers” and their provocations. Unlike people at festivals and campuses, patients are a captive audience whose healthcare outcomes could affected negatively by the intimidating tactics of these people.

The First Amendment has been perverted by these "preachers" to the point we all suffer their abuses in public spaces, because apparently disturbing the peace doesn’t seem to be an enforceable law anymore, and other people’s rights to peaceable enjoyment of their lives and communities aren’t as important as the street preachers' rights, it would seem.

There are such a things as “time, place, and manner” restrictions that can be applied to the preachers’ antics, and until we as communities demand something be done, they will continue to harass communities and clinics freely.

Let’s engage as communities, at the municipal level, and let them know we don’t appreciate their intrusions into our neighborhoods, demeaning our neighbors, and screaming at people. We the people have rights as well.

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