Street Preachers vs. Fighting Words: Why I’m Cheering for the Punch

Street Preacher Segment – Summary A group of aggressive street preachers (the type who stand on milk crates with bullhorns and large signs showing aborted fetuses) regularly show up at public events and venues around the area — the Brandon Amphitheater during concerts, restaurant patios in Fondren, etc. — and scream at patrons, calling women whores, Jezebels, drunkards, and telling everyone they’re going to hell. After repeated incidents (including at least one preacher getting punched in the face), the city of Brandon passed an ordinance requiring them to preach from a designated protest zone away from the amphitheater entrance. The preachers refused, returned to the entrance, got arrested, and sued, claiming the ordinance violates their First Amendment free-speech and religious-liberty rights.

The case worked its way up and is now headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Host’s take (very clearly stated):He is 100% against these preachers and 100% supports the city’s restriction.   “This is not legitimate evangelism; this is theater kids putting on a show trying to provoke people into hitting them so they can sue and play victim.”   He compares it to “First Amendment auditors” — attention-seeking grifters, not sincere believers.   Calls what they scream “fighting words” that violate personal space and are designed to start physical confrontations.   “You have the absolute right to your free speech, but you do not have the right to scream it two feet from my family’s face while we’re trying to eat dinner or enjoy a concert.”   Points out that moving them across the street or to a designated zone (the same way the amphitheater bans firearms for everyone) is a perfectly legal time/place/manner restriction, not censorship.   Says the behavior makes Christians and Christianity look terrible and drives people away from faith rather than bringing anyone closer to God.   “Nobody has ever walked past these guys getting called a whore and thought, ‘You know what? They’re right. I’m skipping the concert and going to church Sunday.’ Not one single person.”

He acknowledged he would fully support the same preachers protesting outside abortion clinics, big-box stores pushing transgender products to kids, or even adult venues doing genuinely harmful things — but screaming insults at random families at a country-music concert or on a restaurant patio crosses the line into pure harassment, not ministry. Bottom line from the host: Their free-speech rights are not being violated; they just lost the right to do it right at the entrance and start fights. He hopes SCOTUS upholds the ordinance.