How NOT to have interfaith dialogue

If only it were always this calm...

Over the past 10 years I've done open-air evangelism, or "street preaching," in many places--colleges in Georgia, Harvard Square, even in the middle of  Cambridge University in England.  I've had some intense conversations with many people of many faiths (or lack thereof!).

However, other than a run-in with a drunk guy in Cambridge who was irate that a "F***ing yank" was speaking about religion in his city, these exchanges have always been cordial.  Even when those in the crowd are hostile to Christianity, after we have a chance to go back and forth for a while, they usually end up, at the very least, not hating me as much as they thought they would.  In fact, some of my favorite people to verbally spar with have been: a self-described "militant atheist", a "Disestablishmentarian", a die-hard agnostic and a gay pagan (I'm not making these titles up; this is how they described themselves in our discussions).

However, many who engage in open-air preaching seem to equate hostility with holiness.  If the crowd doesn't hate or persecute you, you must not be "preachin' tha Gospel!" 

Or so many preachers think. 

This came to mind when I saw the following video yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGLs71inn3E&feature=player_embedded

This preacher unfortunately did what so many preachers do, he tried to generate controversy rather than foster dialogue.  Now I can't condemn the use of controversy when preaching to large public crowds (the Hebrew Prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, Stephen and Paul ALL used this approach at times!).  But one must always make sure that this is not used as an excuse to intentionally insult or antagonize people.  Sure it will draw a crowd...but does that always honor Jesus? 

In this case, there was much this preacher could have done to calm the situation before it got out of hand.  There was no need to divert the issue to an attack on the character of Muhammed (regardless of whether or not the label is valid).  It's easy to get sidetracked when faced with questions or objections that we're not prepared to answer.  But in such situations, it's ALWAYS better to humbly admit as much than to try to change the topic without answering the questioner. 

Of course, it wasn't all the fault of the preacher.  There are often people like the woman in this video who are just looking for a reason to justify doing what they want to do deep down.  And, in this case, since Islamic law (if I understand correctly) deems it a capital crime to blaspheme Muhammed, her actions were likely more than justifiable in her mind.  Under such a worldview, she was defending the honor of her prophet...just like many religious fanatics have justified in their minds all manner of violence on such grounds.  This is never acceptable--regardless of one's level of devotion to their God/Prophet/Saint/Ideology.

I must say though, I'm glad the preacher didn't lash out or attempt to do anything other than continue speaking.  And it was funny to see him giver her credit for having a nice right cross!  His lack of retaliation was the only thing in that video that represented true Gospel faith. 

However, there's no need to bash another religion in order to preach the Gospel.

I know this firsthand.