When Michael Venyah and Chris Lemeiux returned to the Diag yesterday to continue preaching their anti-gay message, at least four campus officers was waiting for them.

Diane Brown, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, said there were no reports of criminal incidents on the second day in a row in which a crowd of furious students confronted the preachers.

On Monday, DPS received one complaint from someone who wanted Venyah and Lemieux removed from the Diag. Police took no action because free speech protections give anyone the right to speak on public property as long as they are not interfering with a registered event, Brown said.

Angry students spanked, drew sexual images on and flicked cigarette ashes at the preachers on Monday.

"No matter how hateful his speech may be, it does not give anyone the right to assault him, to throw ashes on him or to write on him," Brown said. "If they do these things then they are guilty of a criminal assault."

Yesterday's crowd was even bigger than Monday's - at midday it reached well over 100 - but it was more restrained.

LSA senior Jujhar Gahley, who came back to watch Venyah for the second day, said the crowd was not nearly as feisty as on Monday.

"Yesterday there was a dynamic, a give-and-take, but today there are just people standing around listening," LSA senior Michael Kozlowski said.

Although Tuesday's appearance by the East Lansing-based preachers garnered less taunting and shouting than Monday, it did generate strong emotional responses from many students.

Amanda Dine, Brad Vermurlen and Ashley Wynne, all members of Campus Crusade for Christ, came to the Diag eager to challenge Venyah with their own interpretation of the Bible.

After the crowd chanted "let her speak" for several minutes, Venyah was forced to suspend his anti-gay diatribe and listen to Dine, whose small figure was helped to the front of the crowd by other students.

With her Bible held in front of her and a slight quiver in her voice, Dine proceeded to read aloud a verse from the Bible that said all people sin.

Venyah shot back at her with a booming voice and his finger in her face.

"I am not a sinner," he said. "It is you who are the sinner!"

A few moments later, Dine separated from the crowd, trying to hold back tears.

"I just tried to approach him because I felt he was going about it the wrong way," she said. "He is just feeding the crowd's anger and making them angry about Christianity."

Similar scenes occurred throughout the day as passionate students took turns stepping to the front of the crowd to challenge Venyah and Lemieux's interpretation of Christianity.

After a spirited exchange when LSA junior Sean Moberg quoted a passage of the Bible and Lemieux called him a sinner and said he was doomed to hell, Moberg left the crowd visibly distressed.

"This man is a false prophet," Moberg said. "He preaches a gospel of hate."

A few minutes later, Moberg knelt down on the Diag to pray.

Gahley, who is a sihk, said he thought people were getting so upset because they care deeply about their faiths.

"But he doesn't listen, he just keeps repeating his own spiel," Gahley said.

LSA freshman Chad Bissinger did not verbally confront Venyah or Lemieux. Instead, he spent more than five hours standing on the Diag holding a sign that read "Do what makes you feel good" and passing out papers that read "Hate is not a religious value."

Bissinger said he felt compelled to come to the Diag today even though he is not a Christian.

"I feel like someone has to say something," he said. "I am not a Christian, but it is a moral belief I have that people shouldn't hate each other."

Not everyone who came to hear Venyah and Lemieux yesterday came to confront them. LSA freshman Ryan Ha eagerly approached Venyah with a copy of yesterday's Michigan Daily with Venyah's photo.

"Will you autograph this?" Ha asked.

Venyah declined.

"The only signature you need is God's signature in your Bible," Venyah said.

Alex Hollingsworth, a senior at Eastern Michigan University, said he heard about the preachers from his friends who attend the University of Michigan and decided to skip class today to see Venyah and Lemieux speak.

After Venyah turned over the public preaching to Lemieux, Hollingsworth spoke with him one-on-one for nearly an hour.

"If you get over his issues of approach and just listen, he makes a compelling case," Hollingsworth said. "I don't know if I am in complete agreement with him, but I think he is a good guy, and to him this preaching is an act of love."

LSA junior Joe Martin did not see Venyah's preaching in the same way.

"They are taking my faith and hijacking it," Martin said.

Martin debated Lemieux for nearly a half hour yesterday afternoon.