By Alma Sanchez
Daily Titan Staff Writer
Published: March 10, 2010

Crowds of students gathered in the quad area next to McCarthy Hall and the Humanities building Wednesday to listen to George Edward Smock express his religious beliefs to anyone who would listen.

“I’m teaching the Bible out here,” responded Smock to a group of infuriated students within the crowd that were questioning him for trying to impose his beliefs on the students of Cal State Fullerton.

“He goes around the country preaching to college students about his beliefs,” said Brook de Bie, a radio-tv-film major, who, in conjunction with other students, was filming a documentary about Smock.

She said that the documentary was based on a day in the life of Smock, who started preaching on campus before noon and would finish around 4 p.m.

“He just wants to get people to come back to Christianity,” de Bie said.

The students were not passive listeners. Many encompassed Smock, asking him questions and challenging his statements.

“I know each religion kind of has its own beliefs of exactly what happened when Jesus was crucified,” said Valentina Zakaria, who asked Smock a question about Christians justifying their sins with the defense that Jesus died for their sins, resulting in ultimate forgiveness.

Zakaria was fervently challenging Smocks beliefs, and kept bringing up various religious topics to counterattack Smock’s point of views.

Religion remains a heated discussion among many, and the students of CSUF are no exception.

“Regardless of what religion you are, we’re all here to be good people, and that’s what religion is all about,” said Hebba Abed, junior psychology major,

In contrast to the beliefs of Hebba Abed, Smock commented on a religion other than his own.

“The Allah of the Quran is not a trinity; the Allah of the Bible is a trinity,” Smock said. “The Quran doesn’t teach love your enemy.”

Abed was visibly irritated by the allegations Smock was making against the Quran.

“You should read the Quran again,” Abed said.

Students continued to push question after question, demanding logical responses of Smock.

“If the bible states thou shalt not eat swine, then why do believers of the bible still do it?” Zakaria asked.

Douglas Williams, who was holding a sign that read “It’s easy to be an atheist when you don’t think about where everything came from,” pulled Zakaria to the side to answer her question one-on-one.

Zakaria’s account of her discussion with Williams was not a pleasant one.

In contrast, Williams said he welcomes questions raised and even encourages people to speak up, but said there are people that just act like adolescents and try to make you look bad.

Regardless of the preaching that occurred in the quad, Zakaria’s opinion remained unchanged.

“He (Smock) was very loud, so it caught my attention, and I love listening to religious things. I find it very interesting that when you talk to different people, everyone has a complete different understanding … and each person is out there defending their own faith,” Zakaria said. “The Christianity religion in my perspective … is the most out of context, manipulated religion there is.”