Hypothesis for feeder 2.2

Almost every other day as I walk through the pit I hear man yelling at me. He shouts out thing about going to hell if you don’t live right, and derogatory comments about masturbation and homosexuality. These men are called Pit Preachers. Sometimes I stop and listen to these men yell and debate with students. I find it quite entertaining but disturbing at the same time. I have noticed that these men have their own style of dress. They always wear some type of khaki pants with suspenders and a button down collared shirt. They always carry a large jug of water also. I never see them with just a regular water bottle and I don’t know why that is.
There was one time when I had a direct encounter with one of these men and I happened to be with a good friend of mine. My friend, who happened to be a male, and were walking through the pit, and he had his arm placed around my shoulder as we were walking and talking. The pit preacher did not like this so he stopped us, and asked us “are you two young people planning on getting married?” We stood there in shock, and looked at one another and laughed. We replied back with a no. Then he replied “ Well this young man should not be touching you in that manner if he doesn’t plan on marrying you”, and then he stared me in the eye and asked me if I was a Christian, and I stared at him back and replied yes I am with great confidence. He asked me how did I know that, and with another amount of confidence I politely responded and told him. So He then left me alone, but he started to bother my friend. Next thing I know I hear comments like “you are going to hell”, and “do you masturbate?” My friend was so upset, because he also was a Christian, and he was being accused of not being one, and treated like he had been found guilty of murder. This encounter made me upset, but it also intrigued me to find out more about this Pit Preachers.
I hypothesize that this group of men are men who have made many bad decisions in their lives, and have done many of the things that they accuse others of doing. They use their religion as a threshold to put other people down in order to make themselves feel better about the mistakes they have made in life. They follow this militant way of religion that no human being could possibly live up to which gives them more reasons to put others down.
This would be an important research topic, because Carolina has dealt with many problems involving the Pit Preachers. There have been many altercations between the preachers and students, and some have ended in violence. If Carolina can create a better understanding of these men then maybe we can come up with a better way to deal with them and how they interact with the students here on campus.