If you had access to the internet on September 19, 2023, there’s a good chance you saw something about Evangelical Christian TikToker “Sister Cindy” and her University of Wisconsin-Madison visit. If you saw her in person, there’s a good chance you posted about her or texted your friends to ditch class and see “that Christian lady from TikTok that talks about chocolate-covered tampons.”
Unfortunately, there’s an even greater chance this is exactly what she wants.
Before gaining her status as a TikTok micro-celebrity, Cindy Smock (then Lasseter) studied journalism at the University of Florida, had a passion for disco and even worked for her school newspaper. During her sophomore year in 1977, Smock stood in a crowd of her classmates and laughed "hysterically" at the late campus preacher "Brother Jed."
At the time, he preached nearly the same lessons she does now. At the time, she didn’t take him seriously. But she stayed and listened.
Six years later, she married the man she once ridiculed.
After the two tied the knot, they founded Campus Ministry USA (CMUSA). CMUSA brings highly confrontational evangelism to college students. According to their website, the organization views college campuses as a battleground and ideological victory is of the utmost importance: “as go the campuses, so goes the nation.”
The first step to winning that battle is getting your attention.
CMUSA doesn't hide its tactics for spreading its message. In 2016, Brother Jed and Sister Cindy uploaded a video to their YouTube channel called “Five Stages of a Crowd." The one hour, 42 minute video defends their intentionally inflammatory practices and reveals that they are in on the joke. They like it that way.
They start by catching your attention with something jarring and ridiculous. For example, wearing a t-shirt that reads "HoNoMo." Brother Jed claims that, “once hooked, the students [you] use modern social media to draw their [your] friends to the scene.” The couple goes as far as referring to phones as a “trap in the hands of every student.”
According to Brother Jed himself, every time you “ask questions, mock, and ridicule…[you] add to the drama of the event.” By engaging with their content, even ironically, you give them a platform. The more people you bring to the scene, the greater chance you bring someone that sticks around. This might sound melodramatic, but remember if this method didn’t work, Cindy Lasseter might not have become Sister Cindy in the first place.
At first, it's natural to not take Sister Cindy seriously. But remember the intention behind the theatrics. CMUSA isn't a middle-of-the-road organization that happens to use unconventional methods. CMUSA takes aggressive fundamentalist stances on sexual morality, queer rights, gender roles, the Islamic faith and evolution.
How aggressive are they? In one example, CMUSA doesn't just oppose the advancement of "gay rights," or even gay marriage specifically. CMUSA contends that there is no such thing as "gay rights" since "no one has the right to sodomy."
Sister Cindy didn’t say these words on Library Mall, but they were on CMUSA’s publicly available website as crowds gathered, stayed and urged others to join.
So, why should you take her seriously? Because she doesn’t want you to. Because she wants you to stand and laugh. Because she wants you to take photos and videos. Because she wants you to bring more people to come and listen. Because to make her point, all she needs is one person to stay.
Blake Martin is a junior studying English and political science. Do you agree spectacle lends support to far-right speakers? Send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com
Blake Martin is the opinions editor for The Daily Cardinal.
