Last week at the Student Involvement Expo, I saw something.

I was speaking with one of the people running a booth. He and I were trading lines, jokes and just generally being friendly. Eventually, he got to his point and extended me an invitation to join the congregation he was representing. I turned him down, thanking him for the offer and the conversation and began to move along. He stopped me and thanked me for being so kind when I turned him down.

On an intellectual level, I’ve never understood thanking someone for being nice, polite or kind. That should be pretty obvious right?

It seems not. Curious as to why he so fervently thanked me, I blended into the crowd and observed.

What I witnessed was concerning. I didn’t hear any words exchanged, but I didn’t need to. The amount of malice directed at the man who was simply asking people if they were interested in joining his church — and, more importantly, taking “no” for an answer with a smile and a “thanks for listening” — was disheartening. This man, whose name or church affiliation I don’t recall, was simply asking if people would be interested in checking out the place where he finds solace and meaning. It’s a pretty innocent request.

Take his actions in contrast with another man I came across that same afternoon, also advertising a church. He stopped me, told me I was beautiful and that he loved me — getting at the love of Christ that Christianity is always talking about. Then he began pushing his church on me. Long story short, it was extremely uncomfortable and downright inappropriate.

I tried to be polite but eventually had to fake seeing a friend in the distance. I didn’t have much choice; he wouldn’t let me go. He physically held me there, by my elbow, for about three to five minutes.

There’s much here I could discuss. He shouldn’t have touched me. He should have just given me the brochure and let me go on my way after I said “thank you, I need to go.” But this isn’t my point.

I would have had no problem witnessing another person in my shoes be rude. After all, not only was my personal space bubble popped, but he was being incredibly rude by not letting the conversation end when I expressed a polite disinterest. In fact, it would not have been rude of me to have pushed his hand off me, said “Leave me alone” and walked away; it would have been asserting my rights.

But the other guy? The guy who took no for an answer and who never once touched me? He received so many eye rolls, cold shoulders and rude gestures that I was surprised he wasn’t curled up in fetal position behind his booth, crying.

Yes, persecution from the Church — and other religions — exists today. When people like members of the Westboro Baptist Church find it appropriate and necessary to protest pretty much everything using all sorts of derogatory language, it’s understandable that those of us who are non-religious go into conversations about religion on edge and ready for a fight. We live, after all, in a country where religious beliefs still dictate many laws and social customs. Of course, we know we’re the minority, and it’s okay to be a little intimidated by the majority.

However, that does not give us the right to be rude to those who truly respect others’ views. I often get the impression that we non-religious types pride ourselves on being open-minded. Yet, we often forget that people like the Westboro Baptist Church and Mr. Touchy-Feely-I-Love-You are far from the only type of religious person out there.

As easy as it is to keep our guard up and weapons raised all the time when confronted with differing viewpoints, it does no one any good. It simply perpetuates the already existing bad stereotypes. The only way we’ll ever see an understanding, happy community is to treat differing views with respect. Is that really so hard for us to grasp? Sadly, after last week, I’m starting to think so.

Kjerstine Trooien is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].