Burning Man is now underway in Black Rock, Nevada, where the 10-day desert gathering is built around themes of creativity, community and human connection. But one Christian group says that spirit of “radical inclusion” did not extend to them.
John Hinerman, who leads the Christian outreach group Shift the Atmosphere, traveled to the Burning Man festival with the goal of sharing the message of Jesus. In an Instagram video posted Wednesday, he said organizers had told the group to leave the event.
“Burning Man is discriminating us and breaking their own rules of being ‘radically inclusive’ and KICKING us out for being Christians?!” Hinerman wrote in the caption accompanying the post.
In the video, Hinerman told followers the group was packing up after being asked to depart. “We have been asked to leave Burning Man. We’re packing up. They’re kicking us out. Satan’s mad. We have over 600 people who have given their lives to Jesus already, and Satan can’t do anything about it,” he said.
Hinerman also said he believed “God is about to move and do something huge,” adding that the group had been given just three hours to dismantle a camp he said took an entire week to set up.
He added that the festival claimed their ejection was due to his group filming people without their consent, but he claimed those were “lies” made up by the festival.
“What’s crazy to me is there’s young kids – which is wicked and sad that parents would bring their kids to these – but grown men will have their penises out and women are walking around naked without consent,” he said.
“These children didn’t give you consent to be walking around with your penises out in front of all these kids. It’s so wicked and sad.”
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He concluded that post by stating, “Burning Man knows they’re wrong. God will have the last say.”
Burning Man spokesperson Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley responded to Hinerman’s claims (via SF Gate), stating, “Burning Man takes participants’ right to privacy seriously.”
“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,” he added.
The complaints stemmed from Hinerman’s group filming people while encouraging them to “take a blessing,” which violated Burning Man’s rules.
Hinerman shared another video on Instagram Wednesday, showing some encounters with friendly “burners” who helped them clean up their camp when they were asked to leave.
“Many other BURNERS are coming and JOINING us helping us clean up everything up because even THEY are against the Burning Man for kicking us out for sharing our Faith…” the post began.
“WE LOVE the BURNERS. We had such beautiful time spending with the people here. Burning Man is WRONG for kicking us Out and the devil is MAD over 800 people gave their lives to Jesus and became a LIVING temple of the Holy Spirit. One of their #1 Rules, is “Radical Inclusion”. I guess it’s Radical inclusion for everyone EXCEPT Christians,” he concluded.
Hinerman and Shift the Atmosphere appear to be moving on from the ordeal, with his latest post on Thursday revealing that they were continuing on their “mission to save souls” to Reno, Nevada.