An Evangelical and a Witch Agree About Street Preacher Harassment

An Evangelical and a Witch Agree About Street Preacher Harassment May 1, 2023

I recently enjoyed a respectful conversation with an Evangelical Christian named John Morehead, about how the harassing behaviors of some “Street Preachers” threaten our pagan events and witchcraft shops. He and I agreed that they should leave us alone! May the wonders of Spirit never cease!

John creates the Multifaith Matters podcast and YouTube channel. Y’all, he is the most reasonable “Evangelical” I’ve ever met! John is doing great work out there in the Christian world advocating for respectful, non-violent behavior within our pluralistic society.
Heather Greene, a journalist for Religion News Service, introduced us after he’d seen her articles about the harassment by Evangelical Street Preachers at a recent Witchfest in New York City and at shops like mine.
From John’s program notes: “How might a member of a minority religion feel about aggressive Christian preaching at their sacred venues? Can such evangelistic efforts function in ways that restrict the religious freedoms of others? Heron Michelle, a Pagan, shares her perspective resulting from interactions with a street preacher outsider her business.”

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That Hilarious Time an Evangelical Street Preacher Harassed my Witchcraft Shop

Check out the video of EC Street Preacher harassing  The Sojourner Whole Earth Provisions back in 2017. He stood out front with a large sign which read “Who Will Jesus Damn?”

Our General Manager Courtney Varnadoe and I  come outside to talk to him, but the best parts are at the end when our associate Nate Varnadoe joins him to chat about how “Odin’s OK” with his “sinners.” HA! He raises his own sign and a drinking horn. That’s when the comedy commenced!
August 26, 2017 Street Preacher and Pagan with Signs
August 26, 2017 EC Street Preacher and Nate Varnadoe with signs outside of The Sojourner
Here is my original blog post about that visit…

Check out Heather Green’s articles for Religion News service:

“Pagan ‘metaphysical shops navigate threats from Christian critics” at RNS: https://religionnews.com/2021/05/07/p… “Christian groups step up harassment of pagan festivals” at RNS: https://religionnews.com/2022/08/22/c…

John Morehead on Multifaith Matters:

You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio. Learn more about his work here:
https://www.multifaithmatters.org 

Thanks for reading! This is my 300th blog post on Witch on Fire since I began in 2015. What a Wyrd 8 years it’s been!

~Heron

About Heron Michelle
Heron Michelle (Greenville, NC) is a mom, shopkeeper, modern witch, and priestess. Owner of The Sojourner Whole Earth Provisions (thesojo.com) since 2009. She writes the blog 'Witch on Fire' at Patheos Pagan and is the author of "Elemental Witchcraft: A Guide to Living a Magickal Life Through the Elements" published Dec. 2021 by Llewellyn Worldwide. Connect with her at heronmichelle.com You can read more about the author here.

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