As Christians and atheists lined up across from each other to speak out in front of the HUB-Robeson Center on Monday, there was one thing they could agree on: that they could convince the other side they were right.
But as the two groups held up signs in the sweltering heat of the mid-afternoon and pled their cases to a crowd of about 50 Penn State students, neither side seemed to be convincing the other of anything.
Clinton Leinbach, who traveled to campus from Selinsgrove, Pa., said he came to warn people about the dangers of not accepting Jesus.
Leinbach said he feels a responsibility as a Christian to spread the word, even to those who are non-believers.
"If your neighbor was in a burning house, would you go to help them?" Leinbach said. "Or would you stand there doing nothing?"
Leinbach said he thought it was possible to convince the atheists -- who were standing across from him in protest -- to accept Jesus.
But Dan Farbowitz, a member of the Penn State Atheist Agnostic Association, didn't seem to budge from his convictions.
He was cloaked in a brown, hooded robe -- garb familiar to Jedi masters like Luke Skywalker and Yoda -- and held a sign that read "Consider Jediism."
Farbowitz (senior-physics, math and philosophy) said some Christians -- who were holding signs with quotes from scripture and flipping through well-worn Bibles --might actually see his side of the argument.
But as the day went on, the protests seemed to be creating confusion, not consensus.
Many students stood across Pollock Road, laughing, gasping or just staring, trying to make sense of all the signs and protestors.
After preacher Shawn Holes told the crowd that being gay is a sin, counter-protesters held up rainbow flags -- a symbol for gay rights.
But Holes said they had taken his message the wrong way.
"I love homosexuals," Holes told the crowd.
Causing even more confusion was a group of students holding up signs with nonsensical phrases like "Words on a sign" and "My arms are tired from holding this sign."
Nate Johnson (sophomore-aerospace engineering) said the signs were created to poke fun at both sides of the protest and weren't really targeting anyone at all.
"We call [the signs] trolls," Johnson said. "Troll is an internet term which means a jab at someone meant to invoke an angry response -- a response that we may find humorous."
But Leinbach and Holes -- who ignored the signs and respectfully fielded questions from the opposing side -- didn't seem to be laughing.
"They're just making fun of us," Leinbach said.
