Christian Evangelist Preaches To Kids At Dearborn Park, Sparking Controversy

DEARBORN, MI — Controversy sparked after a video emerged showing a Christian evangelist preaching to children in a Dearborn park on Tuesday.

"See, somebody's got to be punished for sin. It's either gonna be the sinner, or it's gonna be somebody willing to stand in your place and take the punishment for you. Does that make sense?" the preacher said to the children, who were seated on a mat.

Christy Lynn originally posted the video on the One Dearborn Facebook page (you can see the video at the link) on Aug. 10. She began the post by saying most of her family are Christians.

"I understand people are strong in their convictions, but if this were a group of Muslims going to random parks [it] would be a different story," she said in the Facebook post.

The preacher continued, "I want you guys to consider: Have you ever sinned? If you have, how are you gonna be forgiven?" he said. "Jesus said 'I am the way, I am the truth, I am the light'... no person, none of us, can go to God except through him.

"You guys can talk to God, and talk to Jesus, to ask him to forgive you of your sins," he told the children.

One Facebook post on the Dearborn Area Community Members Facebook page suggested that the evangelist group went to playgrounds "to save Muslim children," the Detroit Free Press reported.

But there was issue taken with the language barrier. "In many cases, the parents didn't understand enough English to know what was going on and the missionaries didn't see parental approval," Lynn wrote in the post.

About 29 percent of the Dearborn population speaks only Arabic, according to some estimates, and more than 40 percent of the population is of Arabic ancestry.

On the Dearborn Area Community Members page, Alexandra Hachigian commented on the video, "I'm a Christian Arab. This really offends me from both sides. This is taking advantage of a language barrier and it's unacceptable."

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