There’s a time, place and manner for everything. When people don’t understand good boundaries, it can become an issue, and on Tuesday, April 8, that’s precisely what happened at Center Grove High School.
On what seemed to be a school day like any other, students exited the parking lot after the final bell and were met with Former state legislator John Jacob standing at the intersection of Stones Crossing and Trojan Lane with signs labeled “Jesus is King” and “Repent”.
That might be fine if it weren’t for the time, place and manner. A man and woman protesting after school, at the exit of the school, while screaming into a speaker, comments like “if you have boy parts, you’re a boy” as cars passed by with both students and parents.
Jacob said in a comment on a Facebook post that the reason for this protest was to “spread the gospel.” Is this really the way to go about it? Screaming at kids and parents about gender as they just try to get home? And if the concern is truly spreading the gospel, which is completely fine, CG already does a good job of that, with not one, but two clubs (Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Bible Club) to help achieve that goal.
I, and probably other students at CGHS, would be far more receptive to a classmate asking if they could spread the gospel with us than some angry yelling man outside my high school. And even outside the high school, the CG community has no shortage of churches from various denominations.
The other concern is safety. Imagine a child walks home from school and has to see a man screaming such strange things at cars in such a manner that it could be perceived as hateful by members of the community. Sure, Jacob was within his legal right to protest and followed the provisions set by Tinker v. Des Moines. However, what if a protester chose to interact with the student or pressure them? Since it’s public property and it’s outside of school hours, what is there to protect the children who walk home from school or who get stopped at the stoplight?
Overall, the subject of this protest was inappropriate and unwarranted. If the concern is sharing the gospel with the CG community, there are far better ways to do so than yelling at passing cars outside of the high school. It not only can be a safety concern, but it’s taking the wrong message to an issue that has much better approaches available.
