The facts: Nearly every day, preachers are seen in the Brickyard, delivering their sermons to the college crowd.

Our opinion: Many students find the sermons offensive and respond in a less than appropriate way, while the preachers respond with the same intensity. This should be changed.

On any given day you can pass through the Brickyard and hear sermons being given to any and all students who walk by-—whether they want to hear them or not. These Brickyard preachers come onto campus, supposedly with a permit, and preach their religious and moral beliefs. While freedom of speech is their constitutional right, the moral messages behind their rants could be brought into question.

Their sermons all have common themes of gay marriage, students’ convictions to their lust, conventional gender roles and Christian values. While it is their right to believe and preach these values, they do not have the right to impose them on others.

Students can be seen listening and sometimes even agreeing with these particular values. However, the way they are presented is not effective. Preaching acceptance of others and God’s judgment can be considered contradicted when you also tell students they’re going to hell because of who they love. Those might be their beliefs, but they are not everyone’s.

Contrary to what these preachers might believe, these are not the Biblical times of Sodom and Gomorrah . The preachers are delivering their sermons on a 21st-century college campus, and they need to understand this. In this day and age, there is no need for such harsh words toward your fellow man or woman.

Last week, one preacher could be seen yelling at a woman that her brother was going to hell because he was a homosexual. According to his religious views, this might be true, but his religion also gives God the power to decide, not any human being. Perhaps they should understand that judging your fellow man is not what their religion is about. This being said, students also are to blame for such high animosity toward the various Brickyard preachers.

Students can often be seen antagonizing these preachers. One even went so far as to dress like the Pope and counter every argument the preacher posed. This type of behavior is only making the problem worse, fueling the preachers’ desire to stand their ground and defend their religious beliefs.

This is not to say every preacher presents themselves in this manner. A few of their number preach on compassion and recognizing God as a merciful figure, but in a way students find intriguing rather than threatening.

Both parties, students and preachers, must understand the significance of allowing others to exercise their First Amendment rights without persecution. By doing this, we can rid our campus of the stigma surrounding the Brickyard preachers and what they believe in, and come to recognize how developing understanding and getting along with others can have an impact at our school.