Evangels push faith on Pitt's campus

By Caitlyn Christensen / Staff Writer

published: Wed, 9 Sep, 2009

Jenifer Pepling sees herself as a doctor who specializes in the saving of souls.

Some might have seen her handing out religious pamphlets on the corner of Forbes Avenue and South Bouquet Street just before school began.

“If you are not Christian, you are going to hell,” Pepling said. “Imagine a doctor not telling you that you were about to die because he didn’t want to ruin your day. If I have the solution to everlasting life, it would be uncaring not to tell you.”

To some, her actions are part of a religious tradition, one aimed at saving people from what they believe to be condemnation. To others, they are outdated and offensive.

Pitt professor Adolf Grünbaum, from the department of history and philosophy of science, said whether a church proselytizes — or, to recruit people to convert — depends on its conviction about the afterlife.

“Some believe that there is no redemption otherwise. The Roman Catholic Church has a doctrine — Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus — ‘outside the church there is no salvation,’” Grünbaum said. “Judaism avoids proselytizing. Islam does proselytize, so does Christianity, and both have used the sword.”

Grünbaum said that those who convert to a faith often do so because of a lack of stability in their own lives.

“It’s people who feel rootless, who feel they do not have a firm footing, who are floating on the sea of their lives or feel psychologically insecure who are often the most willing to listen when others come with a big message of conviction,” Grünbaum said.

Although he could not statistically evaluate whether college students are more likely to experience religious conversions, he said they might be open to new experiences in general.

“Presumably, college students are interested in exploring the world and being open to new convictions,” Grünbaum said.

Pepling’s convictions, while not necessarily original, were certainly strong. Her pamphlets came in the form of fake trillion-dollar bills, featuring a caricature of President Barack Obama and a religious message asking, “The trillion-dollar question: Will you go to heaven when you die?”

The pamphlet went on to ask for the reader’s repentance from lying, stealing and lust. Anything less will lead to eternal fiery condemnation, it says.

Pepling, a Pitt alumna, said she does not target a particular demographic with the church’s message. She said she aims her message toward anyone who is not “saved.”

“I don’t want anyone to go to hell,” Pepling said.

Pepling said she thinks people who practice Judaism, Islam or any non-Christian denomination are condemned.

“Before Jesus, anyone who trusted the Messiah was coming went to heaven. Those who denied Christ [was coming] went to hell,” Pepling said.

Pepling’s pamphlets gave contact information for the Dorseyville Alliance Church. But Pastor Mike Brownfield, who works there, said that the church does not endorse the pamphlets.

“I am not aware of [Pepling’s] position, and I wouldn’t be able to refute it or justify it,” Brownfield said. “If you read the scriptures, you would see that it says Jesus Christ is the way to truth and life,” Brownfield said.

Brownfield said the church did not organize the distribution of the trillion-dollar-bill pamphlets, but individual church members organized the efforts on their own.

“We have no formalized campaign,” Brownfield said, adding that he’d prefer the church’s name be taken off the pamphlets.

The pamphlets are made by an evangelical West Coast organization called “The Way of the Master.” According to the group’s website, the ministry’s purpose is to “inspire and equip Christians — to teach them how to share the gospel ... the way Jesus did.”

Aaron Weil, executive director of the Hillel Jewish University Center, called the pamphlets’ message irrelevant.

“There are fanatics all over the world, in every denomination,” he said. “How do you relate to a fanatic? For a Jew, this message is an interesting concept, because Jews don’t believe in hell. If someone says you’re going to hell, and you don’t believe in hell, it’s not much of a threat.”

“But I’m being glib,” Weil said. “I believe her message is outdated, and especially out of date with modern Christianity.”

He went on to say that Jewish people do not proselytize because the act goes against the denomination’s mission.

“In Rabbinic law, if someone wants to convert, the Rabbi should dismiss them three times. Conversion is not the mission of our covenant — the mission is that Jews are a chosen people, not the chosen people, and part of being chosen was not to be above anyone and not to try and convince others to join the covenant.

“We were never supposed to conquer the world,” Weil said.

Minister Brett Miller, of the Greater Pittsburgh Church of Christ, said that while his congregation does promote church on Pitt’s campus, it aims for a “loving” approach, passing out fliers and invitations to Bible study groups on campus and on Port Authority buses.

“We welcome converts, if that’s what people want, and we welcome those who just want a place to worship,” Miller said.

His church focuses heavily on self-promotion at the beginning of Pitt’s school year, especially around the time of the activities fair. He didn’t want to comment directly on Pepling’s message, but said he generally finds a “hellfire-and-brimstone approach inappropriate.”

“I believe there is a heaven and hell, but I believe trying to scare people with that message is not kind, not loving and not helpful,” Miller said.

The Islamic Center of Pittsburgh practices campus outreach. The organization was on campus before school started, passing out copies of the Quran to interested students.

Outreach director Imam Abdusemih said that Islam recruits but does not threaten.

“In Islam, there is nothing that says we cannot proselytize,” Abdusemih said. “But we are not going to beat you up with hellfire. You say, ‘I am a good person because Islam tells me to be a good person.’”

“What we do is indirect,” Abdusemih said. “We show you who we are, we don’t tell you who we are.”