For the second time this academic year, a religious preacher made inflammatory remarks toward various marginalized groups and engaged in heated debate with students on campus.

Arriving Tuesday morning, Daniel Jon Lee, who refers to himself as a messianic Jewish preacher, stood on the spine holding a sign — which grabbed the attention of many students passing by — reading “Hell awaits” before a list of different groups of people, some of which include adulterers, baby-murderers, lesbians, homosexuals, atheists and Muslims. The bottom of the sign read “Judgment is coming.”

Lee expressed his belief in creationism, the idea that all parts of the universe, including living things, come from specific acts of divine creation rather than evolution.

“The Bible describes dinosaurs — or dragons,” Lee said. “I believe there were probably baby dinosaurs on [Noah’s Arc] and that they coexisted with man.”

When a student asked Lee if he had “five minutes to save a life” by joining the Gift of Life registry — an organization that works to cure blood cancer — Lee refused saying, “I’m saving lives right now.”

Students continued to protest his appearance on campus throughout the day, asking him about his stance on social issues including abortion rights and LGBTQ+ acceptance. Many also debated biblical interpretations with him, where he expressed his belief that there should not be religious denominations, saying he defines himself as a “bible-believing Christian.” According to his website, his group, Torah Restoration Ministries, is not affiliated with any religious denomination and is “an independent group of believers.”

Emphasizing that he was once a sinner and was reborn at 18 after his sins were dissolved and he found God, Lee wore a shirt that read “Go and sin no more, John 8:11.” He argued that homosexuality in particular was unnatural, calling it a choice. One student pointed out that same-sex bonding has also been observed in nonhuman species, like whales.

“In any case, even if I concede that homosexuality happens [among] animals, I would say, as I said earlier today, animals are not behaving the way Yahweh originally intended them to behave,” Lee wrote in response. “Sin has corrupted the entire creation, and so much is not working as it was initially intended to function.”

Kimberly Mourao, a senior double-majoring in psychology and philosophy, politics and law, brought her guitar with her to confront the preacher. While playing music on a portable speaker, she strummed and sang next to him. In response, he took out a bullhorn to speak over her.

“I don’t get how people with no affiliation with the University, no affiliation with the students, can just come here and start espousing their hate,” Mourao said. “He says, ‘Oh, I’m not antagonizing anybody, I’m not hurting anybody.’ But what he’s doing is telling everybody that it’s okay to hate these marginalized people. And that’s not okay for me. I don’t want that on my campus.”

The University Police Department (UPD), who were standing nearby for the majority of the day, approached both individuals, telling Lee that he could not use his bullhorn and Mourao that she could not play the guitar next to him, claiming it impeded upon his rights to free speech. Lee moved to a different area on the Binghamton University Spine, threatening to press harassment charges if he was followed.

He returned to campus on Wednesday, but students chose mainly not to engage with him.

“It was a really surreal experience,” Anne Muha, a first-year graduate student studying public administration, wrote. “I never felt particularly angry or scared or anything, despite being in the presence of this dude who obviously didn’t like queer people, because of the people around me. It kind of felt like encountering an alien or something. It was like a novelty.”