It wasn’t divine intervention that saved the lives of the University’s atheist students during “Stone a Heathen Day” Tuesday. Those “stones” were actually water balloons, and people laughed, not died, when they were hit.

“I think 70 percent of people walking by will find it hilarious,” said Randall Bourquin, president of UGAtheists. “And 30 percent will get really angry.”

Members of UGAtheists held up signs citing Bible verses — Leviticus 24:14 and Deuteronomy 21:21 — that condemn blasphemers and rebellious children to death by stoning.

Student Daniel Brettschneider gets ‘stoned’ with a water balloon Tuesday at ‘Stone a Heathen Day,’ sponsored by UGAtheists. Participants held up signs with Bible verses about biblical stoning.

Bourquin and other atheist students encouraged people walking in Tate Plaza to stone them according to the Bible’s commands.

Leviticus 24:14, a command from God to Moses, reads: “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him.”

The UGAtheists laughed at their own self-condemnation.

“Jesus said, ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,’ but he said nothing about water balloons,” Bourquin said.

Bourquin said he realizes these biblical laws were for a society that existed thousands of years ago.

“We haven’t heard of any instances of Christians stoning heathens recently,” he said. “Take a deep breath. Don’t take it so seriously.”

But Bourquin said one reason his group organized “Stone a Heathen Day” is because it is not easy to be an atheist in a community such as the one at the University.

“It’s pretty tough to extract sympathy from almost anyone,” he said. “It’s more or less socially unacceptable to come into a room and say, ‘I’m an atheist’ and get a pat on the back.”

Kathryn Macias, a freshman from Warner Robins, does have sympathy for the group, though she said she is not an atheist.

“Atheists are some of the most down-to-earth people,” she said. “This is a fun way to promote UGAtheists.”

Butler Stoudenmire, a sophomore from Albany, watched Bourquin recite Bible verses and ask for the group’s punishment.

“They’re definitely poking fun at religion,” he said. “It doesn’t personally offend me, but they’re giving Christianity a bad name.”

Stoudenmire said the UGAtheist demonstration is akin to when preachers hold up signs in Tate Plaza condemning sinners to hell and shouting to students passing by.

“They’re both kind of extreme,” he said.

After one atheist student asked if Christian student James Wood would throw a water balloon at him, Wood declined.

“Behind that action I think is a sinful desire to get back at them,” said Wood, a senior from Marietta. “I don’t think Jesus would throw a balloon at them.”

Stoudenmire said the Bible verses the group used were irrelevant given Jesus’ words in the New Testament.

This idea — either negating the Old Testament or picking just some verses to strengthen arguments — is what Bourquin aimed to uncover.

“People use the Old Testament to justify a lot of things,” Bourquin said, citing arguments against teaching evolution in schools and homosexuality. “They use it for this but say what we’re doing is ridiculous.”

Richard Elliott Friedman, professor of Jewish studies in the religion department, said any argument using the Bible — whether theist or atheist — requires extensive study.

“It’s not for amateurs to interpret the Bible,” he said.

The Leviticus verse that  UGAtheists used referred to what Friedman called a very, very serious offense in the ancient world: cursing God.

Readers today might consider the stoning punishment extreme, but it was part of the ancient Israelite culture, Friedman said.

“Prisons weren’t invented yet, and fining isn’t enough,” he said. “It was either a fine or execution.”

And stoning a rebellious son, the law from Deuteronomy, almost never happened, Friedman said.

After all, both parents had to take the child to court, knowing the son would die.

“How often did that happen?” Friedman asked. “We know of no case.”