The following is from a post I sent out on Saturday October 2, 1999:

Here is a brief log of what occurred at the protest today at the south gate of Temple Square.

I arrived at 7:30AM and scoped the place out.

At 8:30 I took my things from my car and went to the gate.

A group of bible beaters where in the prime location I wanted to use. Their signs read "Abortion is murder," and "The Tornado was a sign of God's displeasure" (or some such thing). They also had a picture of an aborted fetus.

As I was the only free speech permit holder I asked them to move 50 feet away. They refused. So I called the police. The police made them remove the poles from their signs (as their poles were a lot larger than 1/4" x 1/4"). The anti-abortionists them moved across the street in front of Crossroads Plaza. As I have noted before my permit gave me "preference," so I got to be where I wanted.

Another group showed up with this huge cross, 8 feet tall and over a half foot in diameter. The police made them remove that as well.

Next I got dressed into my Kolobite costume (which was a rough approximation of how Elohim & Jesus appear in the Temple movies). Some people were amused. Some were angry.

The first lady who approached me was very exuberant & outgoing. I can't help but feel like I've seen her somewhere before. A dark haired very outspoken lady. Hmmm. Anyway she was amazed that I was a former Temple worker & a former missionary. She told me several times that the Church would welcome me back. She told me "Come on inside Elder ." I told her that I had problems with a lack of diversity in the Church - that skeptics were pushed out.

Later on a conservative Christian came up to me and started debating with me the validity of atheism. He told me that he could see no way for an atheist to have any morals. I explained to him that I had no plans to shoot anyone, and that morals can be derived through social structure & the social nature of humans as animals. He then cited Hitler whereupon I told him that many atheists abhor what Hitler did.

He told me that everyone has forgotten that they inherently believe in God, & that it is our nature in this world to reject God. He told me that people are evil because they reject God. I countered that the Scientologists believe that people are evil because their ancestors were impregnated by aliens. He told me that it doesn't matter what we believe, it doesn't change the fact of God's existence. I told him that whether a creationist believes in a literal interpretation of the first few chapters of Genesis - that that doesn't change the fact of evolution being a fact. I also told him that about 90% of leading scientists are non-believers (Nature 394:313). I also told him that if God created the universe in sex days or a day that he sure made it look as if it took a lot longer. I also told him that there have been 100s of meteorites tested and they almost all come out to be 4.5 billion years old (thus showing the age of our solar system & of our planet). Anyway it was interesting to debate the guy. I think my Internet experiences have enhanced by debating abilities.

Then two young men came up to me. One of them told me that he was going to come up behind me and hit me, but he said that after he saw I was such a nice guy he decided not to. The other was a Tongan. The Tongan told me that he suspected that I still had a testimony even though I was denying as much. I didn't argue with him as it's not a good idea to argue to Tongans.

Other members came up and told me they couldn't believe how I could have a testimony & then leave the Church. One told me that I would be in big trouble for going through the Temple & then rejecting the truth. One little girl came up to me and kept asking me why I was there. She was generally hostile. She couldn't understand the value of using irony & comedy to illustrate & point. She also had never heard that the Mormon God didn't have any blood, or that he was from Kolob. I was intrigued that such a small girl would want to debate but in the end I agreed that she believed in her God & let it go at that. She was an irritating little brat though.

Several members of the media showed up & asked questions & took pictures. My photo may show up in some Provo newspaper perhaps.

Dean Hovey showed up & helped to pass out tracts. If anyone else from the list showed up please let me know so I can match your name/alias to your face. We passed out about 150 tracts. A lot more people took the tracts than I thought would. I don't know how many actually read them though. I have taken tracts in the past from bible beaters & had usually just skimmed over them then thrown them away. Perhaps my tract was a bit different from the traditional though, as it advocated skeptical thinking.

I was not pleased with the apparent risks of protesting. I did receive at least two threats from people. On the whole I would say the reaction was mixed. The conservative Christians were perhaps a bit thrown off at the presence of atheists. Some Mormons thought my costume was funny, and a pair of missionaries even wanted to have their picture taken with me. Others were angry. Some were very angry when they found out I was a former missionary & former Temple worker. Some less-than-TBMs were generally more receptive than the TBMs were. And I did debate briefly with one apologist who believed there was a limited Israeli migration, and that the orthodox claim of the Lamanites being the principal ancestors of the Indians was generally rejected by Mormon scholars. I told him that if Lamanite DNA exists they would need to find a group which has Israeli DNA which came over in 600 BCE - because scientists can tell how long it's been since two populations were together. He said he would take such a premise under advisement.

Here are the books I had out:

Demon Haunted World by Sagan
The Creation of the Book of Mormon by Petersen
Quest for the Gold Plates by Larson
The Human Nature of Birds by Theodore Xenophon Barber
my own Mortal Mormonism book (my exit journal)
and Biological Exuberance : Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity by Bruce Bagemihl

While I am not gay I brought the last book to show that God, if he exists, appeared to create "deviant" animals. Why would God create homosexual animals, or animals in which a small proportion were observed to exhibit varying degrees of homosexual behavior. Bad God, Bad!

Also, to see the tract I handed out click here.

Anyway I don't know if today was the very first organized protest by atheists / humanists / liberal religion advocates at Temple Square. Hopefully it won't be the last because I think we do need some contrast to the foolery going on inside the gates, and to the equally erroneous foolery of the conservative religious types outside the gates. An advocacy for skeptical thinking, science, evolution, and liberal religion / humanism / atheism. I don't know whether I'll be here to spearhead the issue. Whatever happens happens.

Anyway, I may go tomorrow to the west gate, but if I go it will be a much more low & simple affair. Probably no books - just what tracts I have left, and maybe a bird.

----------