Gary Birdsong briefly stopped preaching the gospel today and spoke instead from the Bill of Rights.
A street preacher from Knightdale, Birdsong was outside the Wake County Courthouse on Fayetteville Street around noon, holding a tall canvas sign that said "Reality: Heaven or Hell. It's your choice." Nearby, diners were eating at tables outside the newly opened Yancy's Juke Joint, and pedestrians were quietly walking past.
Birdsong is an old-fashioned, sinners in the hands of an angry God kind of preacher, though, and he'd worked into a shout.
Soon enough, two Raleigh police officers arrived. They said they'd received a noise complaint and asked to see his driver's license. Two courthouse deputies watched the scene from the steps nearby.
The officers asked Birdsong if he had a permit. He pointed out that he doesn't need one to preach on the city-owned sidewalk. They asked if he would mind preaching more quietly.
He erupted. How could he spread the word of salvation quietly? Soon, he was shouting to the passers-by, louder than before, about freedom of speech, police harassment and judges who don't approve of the Ten Commandments.
After the officers left, Birdsong said he's rarely run into problems, and he's been preaching on college campuses since 1980. He blamed the Fayetteville Street reopening.
"It's all about money," he said. "I'm going to come back here."
