I can’t speak for the specific incident addressed, but there is a point beyond which I get the feeling that the praying, singing and testfying is done more for the individual Christians’ ego benefit than for any one else’s.
For example, in college we used to go down to New Orleans each year for Mardi Gras and you couldn’t help but run into at leaft a half dozen Christians so concerned about our souls that they took off from work to bring their giant cross and signs to the quarter to tell us how we were damned to burn in eternal hellfire but if we repented we’d be saved for glory like them. Every time I’ve been down on Beale Street here (not as often since the kids came) I’ve seen their like as well. I’ve always wondered how many happy, celebrating, drunken folks have ever stopped in the middle of the street with an epiphany any asked to be saved? Or does the self-righteous feeling that “we’re saved and better than these drunken sinners” not play into their motivation at all?
For clarity, I do think there are Christians who sincerely want to minister, help and testify but I also think there are the most vocal examples (e.g. Phelp’s gang) that are in it for their own egos. I’m not trying to characterize the specific group referenced, but I think Elizabeth’s larger point is that the “holier-than-thou” in-your-face Christians do as much to make all Christians look bad as the leather-masked B&D fetishist proudly marching downtown does to make all gays look bad.
