Christian missionaries were not kicked out of Burning Man for preaching the Gospel

Shift the Atmosphere ignored repeated warnings about consent and privacy before accusing Burning Man of targeting Christians

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Burning Man, the massive event held annually in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, has been accused of unfairly kicking out a group of Christians “for being Christians.” But as usual, the actual story has nothing to do with persecution and everything to do with Christians assuming they could get away with breaking the rules.

John Hinerman is a member of the missionary group Shift the Atmosphere, which aims to convert people, and on Wednesday, he posted a video claiming that he and his buddies were getting booted from their campsite because the organizers hated Christians. The event is known for welcoming everybody, but Hinerman said that didn’t apply to the missionaries: “Radical inclusion for everybody except Christians,” one caption in the video stated. He added that “Satan’s mad” because they had already converted 600 people.

It was certainly an unusual occurrence. While Burning Man regularly kicks out individuals for bad behavior, it’s rare to kick out an entire camp.

The actual reason they were kicked out, though, was far more mundane: They were taking pictures and videos of people without consent and posting them on social media. Burning Man has very strict rules against that sort of thing:

“Burning Man takes participants’ right to privacy seriously,” said Burning Man spokesperson Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley. “Seeking permission and consent before filming or engaging other participants in Black Rock City is a requirement and responsibility for anyone at the event. This camp received multiple warnings and opportunities to correct their behavior, yet continued to violate our policies and were therefore evicted.”

Would you look at that? Another story of Christians assuming they can break the rules and get away with it because of their faith. Another violation of consent. Another example of Christian privilege followed by false accusations of persecution.

Journalist Trevor Hughes, who’s at the event, offered even more clarification on the matter: The Christians were basically harassing people without getting their permission to be filmed.

Organizers of the “Shift the Atmosphere” complained on social media that they were targeted over their expressions of faith, which included preaching and on-site baptisms. But witnesses told me the group used aggressive tactics on both adults and children to share the gospel of Jesus.

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As a private, ticketed event, Burning Man's annual Black Rock City gathering is subject to strict privacy rules set by the organization. Those restrictions, which also apply to the media, include limiting photography and video, typically by requiring prior consent of anyone being filmed. (As a journalist, I have to wear an official credential and get permission from anyone I photograph.)

That wasn’t the only issue with the group. Apparently, they were also conducting baptisms in small tubs… even though Burning Man has rules against public pools or showers, stemming from Nevada’s health code.

Another regular Burning Man attendee said that the missionaries “were aggressively proselytizing and actually physically restraining participants while doing it.” And in addition to filming people without their consent, when Rangers investigated the matter, “these people proceeded to film the Rangers… while at the same time denying that they were filming.”

She added:

One parent who encountered them near Kidsville said they were extremely aggressive, were pushing Jesus figurines into the children’s hands and separated the kids across the room to talk to them. The parent said they then tried to take their child into a separate side room with a closed door flap to witness a baptism without even asking the parent first. I want to be clear that particular story did NOT come from the Rangers. That’s an individual parent’s account of their experience with this camp, but if somebody tried to take one of my kids into a closed room without asking me first, holy shit would we have a problem.

I should note that multiple copies of that post are circulating online with no credit given to whoever wrote it first.

SFGATE notes that the targeting of children didn’t end there:

Shift the Atmosphere was located directly across from the Kidsville camp, with one 12-year-old who’s attended the Burn every year of his life noting that he was offered matcha and coffee, but before receiving them, he had to listen to prayers and was given a yellow cartoon pamphlet whose cover proclaimed, “For God so loved the world.”

Wait, there’s more.

According to another attendee, the missionaries were playing “Christian EDM” unusually loud. They were asked to lower the volume and eventually did, but not before multiple requests.

While you consider all that, watch this video from other members of the Christian group complaining about their eviction. In this one, a member says, “All we were doing was preaching the Gospel and sharing the love of Jesus!” He says they never filmed someone without consent, contrary to what the Rangers (and other attendees) said, before adding, “We never touched someone when they didn’t want to be touched” (which just sounds way worse than it needs to). Also, of the idea of radical inclusion at Burning Man, he wonders, “Does that end for Christianity?” (Answer: No. Just you guys.)

Even as they left, they continued to violate the ethos of the event. They were given three hours to break down their camp and leave the premises, but “Nearby campers noted that the group had left much of its gear behind, breaking Burning Man’s leave no trace rule.”

They whined as they did that too. A video posted by another member of the Christian group argued that Burning Man’s demand that they leave within a few hours caused several injuries among the missionaries:

Teardown was dangerous. Every member of our team had minor injuries. Heavy equipment nearly fell on us, and some team members fell from ladders.

The storm made setting up tents unrealistic. Some interactions with Rangers were difficult, but I don’t want the actions of a few to define the whole Burning Man community. Burners are some of the kindest people I’ve met. Two Rangers helped us generously, other Burners helped clear debris, and even Christians who heard we were being removed came to help.

It’s almost like they never thought through the consequences of their own actions…

So that’s the real story here. These missionaries repeatedly violated rules designed to protect people’s privacy, consent, safety, and health. They received multiple warnings. But they refused to stop what they were doing. And then, after they were booted from the camp grounds, they left out every inconvenient detail from their public posts in order to boost their persecution narratives.

They almost certainly weren’t the only Christians at Burning Man. Hell, their own account admits that other Christians heard about the eviction and came to help them pack. So why weren’t those other Christians kicked out of the event? Because they weren’t harassing everyone else. The point is: Christianity was never the problem here.

If Burning Man is all about radical inclusion, that still very much extends to people with absurd religious beliefs. But their rules don’t have exceptions for followers of Jesus. The missionaries’ dishonest attempt to turn their eviction into a story of persecution is just another reason you should always fact-check Christians’ stories whenever they claim they’re the victims of discrimination.

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