A group of Utah Christians drew backlash online after they were accused of littering an airport with hundreds of religious flyers. Reddit user STOP____HAMMER_TIME shared pictures on r/interesting of countless handouts they’ve collected from the airport parking lot where they work. They claim that this large number of flyers was from just two days, and thousands of Redditors were none too happy with the evangelical Christians’ work.
“Litter. They should be fined for it,” remarked a commenter. “At what point does it become religious harassment?” questioned another. One person claiming to work at a grocery store says they call out anyone leaving flyers, warning that they’ll be reported for littering and trespassing. Hundreds of others added how they believed the Utah Christians were wasting paper and giving other people, especially businesses’ employees, excessive “trash” to clean up.
Reddit Users Doubted the Effectiveness of the Christians’ Flyers at the Utah Airport
While STOP____HAMMER_TIME didn’t add any extra context about the evangelists covering the airport parking lot, they also uploaded the same post to r/notinteresting. Here, hundreds of people criticized not the actions of the Christians, but the questionable design of the Gospel flyers.
“Who is this targeted at?” remarked a Redditor, pointing out how the excessive text isn’t geared for young people. They added that the older generations who would care to read the walls of texts and Bible verses likely already have their own beliefs.
“It’s not about targeting — it’s that their religion requires them to proselytise and this counts,” explained a response, saying how the church or group placing the handouts might be trying to fill a quota or meet a standard. The internet reacted in a similarly negative way when a mother in Connecticut discovered a seashell on a beach containing an ad for a Bible app. Plenty of online users argued that “littering” isn’t something Christ would do or encourage.
In the end, regardless of the motivation behind the Utah Christians attempting to spread the good news, their method isn’t working, at least at the airport where OP works. On top of that, thousands of Redditors believe that leaving behind pamphlets on private property, especially ones covered with small text, is doing the opposite of drawing people to God.
