Bus Stop Evangelist Taken To Court

By Matt Miller
Religion News Service

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Should a street preacher be banned from approaching students at a bus stop?

Dauphin County, Pa., Judge Jeannine Turgeon is weighing that question regarding Stephen Garisto, who says he has a constitutional right to evangelize to the students.

Turgeon didn't make a final ruling after a hearing Thursday (Jan. 13) on a school district's plea for a permanent injunction to keep Garisto away from the children. Yet she did tell Garisto that while his intentions might be pure, his actions eerily mimic those commonly associated with pedophiles and child abductors.

"Mr. Garisto, you're not Mr. Rogers," Turgeon said, invoking the children's television icon. "In our culture we tell children, `Do not talk to strangers."'

For the time being, she continued a temporary injunction requiring Garisto to stay away from the bus stop near his home in Penbrook, Pa.

Garisto was in court because school district officials and parents are concerned about his interactions with the middle and high schoolers who board buses near his home. The district moved the bus stop in response to parent concerns, but officials claim Garisto still approached children several times.

In 2004, county Judge Scott A. Evans fined Garisto $50 after finding him guilty of disorderly conduct for protesting at the prior year's PrideFest, Harrisburg's annual gay and lesbian festival.

Bus driver Carol Mihailoff reported repeated incidents with Garisto, including one in October when he approached some girls as they got off the bus. "My concern is that the children need to get home and be safe, because I have no idea what (Garisto) has up his sleeve,"
Mihailoff testified.

Garisto said his only intent is to preach God's word. When he took the witness stand, he asked to be sworn in on a Bible. None was available in the courtroom, so he provided his own.

"Being a street preacher and evangelist ... that is something that is common for me to do," he said. "I have been ministering to children since the 1980s."

Questioned by Engle, he said he gave tracts to "unsaved children" without asking their parents' permission. "My intention is to get them saved and to get them discipled," Garisto said.

Engle conceded Garisto has a right to preach publicly, but argued that a bus stop isn't an appropriate pulpit. "These are kids. They don't have the wherewithal to say to Mr. Garisto, `I don't want a Bible tract,"' Engle said.

"What we have here is a man who wants to be a good neighbor," countered Garisto's lawyer, Henry Sollenberger. "He wants to share his faith with those around him."

Comments

[O Dannyboy]

03:28 AM on 02/23/2011

And what will Mr Garisto think of Satanists handing out pamphlets to schoolchildren on his street corner?

[alsie2]

11:58 PM on 02/22/2011

I'm a Christian pastor and agree with the comments concerning the atrocities of its history... it is deplorable, shameful, and sinful. NO religion or faith tradition should be forced on anyone anytime! To do so is foolish and wrong. Now.. having said that, and being a father of 4 daughters - this guy is just creepy. I would be right there at the bus stop letting him know his 'efforts' are not only not welcome, but despicable and non-Christian. I also would definitely lodge a complaint with the police over his harassing of my children. Compliments to the bus driver!

[way2sunny]

11:09 AM on 02/19/2011

Well, if this was happening at one of my kids' bus stops, their Dad and I would show up there as well to have a talk with this creepy man to let him know his "evangelizing" wasn't welcome and would stop today. I'm not surprised he's approaching girls -- my boys would be happy to laugh directly in the face of this guy, but my daughter is more polite.

[American Air]

05:10 PM on 02/01/2011

After the whole S ara PaIin c0ntrovers­­­y over BI00d Iibel I went and read what it was. I had no clue what BIood IibeI was until I read it

OIMG! What a gr0tesque culture christian culture is. How could you? How could this lmmoral faith , this g 0df0rsake­­­n religion even exist?'

who in their right m!nd would remain a christian after such a thing.

I don't get it

[O Dannyboy]

03:30 AM on 02/23/2011

Has anybody else noticed how atheistic evangelism plays hell with spelling skills?

[American Air]

05:09 PM on 02/01/2011

Reject christ with extreme Prejud!ce!

Look at the Sheet he has done using his minions

- ;nquisitio­n in Spain and Goa
- C rusades
- Ethn!c cIeansing of American Indians
- SIavery
- Iynchings
- The Anti Chinese league of the Americas
- Jim Crowe
- The HoIocaust. Read the ant!sem!ti­c rantings of Martin Luther the founder of the Protestant movement that was the impetus for the HoIocaust.
- Separate churches for bIacks and whites in the bible belt.

[American Air]

05:09 PM on 02/01/2011

Use the chile Predat0ry laws to get him

[O Dannyboy]

03:31 AM on 02/23/2011

The minute he shows up in Santiago we'll get right on that.

[ninetailedfox]

01:58 PM on 01/21/2011

If the preacher was something other than christian, you can bet there would be moral outrage. Christians dont own america, and the whole "we are being persecuted is becoming a joke, since christians were the ones that burned non christians at the stake, they erased history, and basically did horrible things to people they didnt agree with.

[rtgmath]

11:37 PM on 01/18/2011

The children at the bus stop are there to go to school, not to be evangelized. Had the evangelist the permission of the parents to approach their children, that would be another matter. I doubt, however, that he would approach the children were they with their parents at a bus stop or in a parking lot.

Evangelists are long on zeal, and sometimes short on sense. Using inappropriate methods which instill fear and mistrust will work against his faith. "Don't talk to strangers" is good advice.

The article mentions him approaching the girls. I don't know whether he approached the boys to give them tracts or preach to them, but if his preferred audience was girls, well .... too many kids go missing, and we don't want another Elizabeth Smart incident.

He should leave the kids alone. If parents wish to bring their children to hear him, they could act as chaperons. If he doesn't stop on his own, there should be some law that can keep him away.

[ninetailedfox]

04:10 PM on 01/18/2011

Considering the emotional abuse and physical abuse I went through growing up christian, If i was a child I would probably kick him in the crotch. But since Im older now, I pretty much speak my mind about what I think of christianity and those that want everyone to be christian. No I dont want Jesus. Been there, done that, Not interested.

[ninetailedfox]

03:58 PM on 01/18/2011

At my job, years ago, a lady put a bible pamplet on my desk, I almost got fired for telling her not to solicit. Preachers should not be evangelizing to the young, especially in public. Freedom of religion you know. Unless that is just a joke....... Also, in light of pedophilia, evangelical preachers should be looked at with scrutiny, not just catholics do that kind of thing, you know?

[EmmaDarian]

02:29 PM on 01/17/2011

Kudos to the bus driver for reporting this and looking out for the children.

[logicanada]

02:11 PM on 01/17/2011

"Being a street preacher and evangelist ... that is something that is common for me to do," he said. "I have been ministering to children since the 1980s."

Questioned by Engle, he said he gave tracts to "unsaved children" without asking their parents' permission. "My intention is to get them saved and to get them discipled," Garisto said.

. . . your mission is to brainwash them. And to do this without parental consent is suspicious as heck.

[EmmaLib]

01:40 PM on 01/17/2011

As a parent, I would have gotten a restraining order for the nutty preacher to stay at least 100 feet away from my child. The man is delusional and obviously predatory to be approaching children who are neither friends or family. I would not allow his hateful intolerant rhetoric to be witnessed.

[Marta Layton]

08:28 PM on 01/16/2011

Seems to me there are two separate concerns here. Is he a safety concern, or is this an indoctrination issue (and possibly a parental-violation issue, if the parents are anti-religious or belong to a non-Christian religion)? There's a big difference between those two, and frankly the second bothers me more. Eleven year olds should know well enough to protect their safety around a stranger, but they are still find themselves ideologically.

[LintLass]

09:01 AM on 01/17/2011

Both mean you don't harass children at bus stops.

[de-meme-ing]

11:05 AM on 01/17/2011

A child's safety, intellectual, spiritual and physical, takes all precedence over anyone's right to free speech. Should Obama bin Laden be allowed to recruit children under 18? No. The moonies? No. Christians? No. Judaism? No.

Islam? No. Atheists? No. Mormons? No. The Church of Body Piercing? No. Homosexuals? No. Heterosexuals? No.

[DirtDoc44]

01:06 PM on 01/17/2011

For sure. I am sure if it were an atheist trying to convince the children of a lack of god, he would have been arrested and thrown in the slammer.

[JohnFromCensornati]

06:24 AM on 01/21/2011

Gay people don't recruit.

[RandyMan7027]

07:23 PM on 01/16/2011

Here's a partial list of Christian denominations. It doesn't even try to list all the sects, cults and splinter groups. So I wonder how this guy would feel if a zealot of a version he vehemently disagrees with was trying to indoctrinate his kids or grandkids without his knowledge or permission? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_denominations