There are a lot of feelings you can have about Tom Short, but neutrality isn’t one of them. To you, the open-air preacher might be a bold evangelist who is trying to live out his faith. Or you might see him as a cult leader who wants to lock all women in the kitchen and strap oven mitts on their hands. Or he might be your afternoon entertainment. A friend of mine told me that there is nothing like munching on a gyro and listening to Pastor Tom tell a Hindu that he is going to hell.

If you have no idea who Tom Short is, he is the guy who spent last week in front of the library, waving a Bible and having intense religious debates with atheists, feminists and even a few Christians.

Some people think Tom is living out a bold version of his faith, while others think he lives on the fanatical fringe. I wanted some perspective on the issue, so I called up Tom to hear his side of the argument.

The voice on the other end of the phone didn’t suggest insanity or fanaticism. He was just a regular guy who only had 10 minutes to talk since he was grilling burgers for his family.

I first asked him why he preaches in huge open places that almost beg for controversy and shouting matches.

Tom said he got the idea from the New Testament. He pointed to the apostle Paul, who spent his time preaching in synagogues and at the Areopagus in Athens. He also mentioned Jesus, who confronted religious leaders in Jerusalem’s public places, calling the Pharisees “brood of vipers” and “white-washed tombs.”

I then asked him if he’s seen any results from his work.

“Oh yeah — I have seen dramatic conversions to Christianity. Those who debate me the most ardently are the ones who typically come to Christ. I wouldn’t be surprised if 1 out of 10 people [who openly debate me] don’t become Christians.”

But he makes at least as many enemies as he does converts. During his stint at Iowa State, some students showered him with insults for hours. Others threw bottle caps and cigarette butts at him.

However, he has had far worse receptions. When he first began public preaching at the University of Maryland in 1980, a few communists in the audience did not take kindly to his message. So they picked him up and literally threw him off the campus.

Despite his polarizing effect on students, I think Tom serves an important purpose at Iowa State. Many student groups and university leaders call out for more diversity at Iowa State and Tom acts as a sounding board for religious discussion.

He gives Christians opportunities to discuss their faith with others and religious skeptics the opportunity to voice their harshest criticism of Christianity that they wouldn’t express elsewhere. Where else is it so easy to proclaim that the Bible was a religious conspiracy?

Being a fellow Christian, I have my reservations about Tom Short. On one hand, he often times slips up in his logic and refuses to admit that he doesn’t know the answer to every objection that the audience throws at him. He also has a confrontational style that turns off a lot of listeners.

On the other hand, nothing in Tom’s message strays from the Bible — he merely brings up the controversial points that most people would like to ignore, like women’s roles in marriage, homosexuality and who’s going to hell.

After all, the message of Christianity doesn’t unite people; it divides them. Jesus wasn’t a beatnik who preached humanistic philosophy and offered people back rubs. He made bold statements, like “the ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Jesus wasn’t intentionally trying to cause strife by this statement. He knew that some would accept his message and others would reject it. There was no middle ground.

Kind of like opinions on Tom.