A Christian missionary camp was evicted from Burning Man in the middle of the night after organizers said its members repeatedly violated the festival’s rules regarding consent and privacy.
Shift the Atmosphere was ordered to leave Black Rock City on Tuesday, just two days into this year’s gathering in Nevada. The group, which was there to evangelize attendees, claims it was singled out for its religious beliefs.
John Hinerman, a missionary who was part of the camp, documented the eviction in multiple Instagram videos and alleged that organizers gave his group three hours to pack up and get off the playa. Burning Man, however, says the decision came after multiple warnings about their conduct.
“Burning Man takes participants’ right to privacy seriously,” spokesperson Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley told SFGATE. “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.”
Complaints against Shift the Atmosphere included filming people without their permission and approaching attendees to encourage them to “receive a blessing.” Burning Man’s photo and video policy requires participants to obtain permission before photographing or recording other people.
Hinerman disputed the justification for the eviction, arguing in his posts that the camp was being discriminated against for practicing Christianity. He also claimed that more than 600 people had “given their lives to Jesus” during Shift the Atmosphere’s time at the festival, with some members even performing baptisms in small water tanks. That practice also raised questions about another Burning Man rule. The festival’s latest Survival Guide prohibits public pools and showers for health and safety reasons, although there are currently no reports that the baptisms were cited by organizers as grounds for the eviction.
“Burning Man was trying to come up with any dumb excuse and accusation they could because they don’t want to admit what it truly is,” he wrote on social media. “Because they aren’t truly about ‘Radical Inclusion’, one of their biggest principles. They are about including everyone except Christians expressing their faith with others.”
The group’s interactions with its neighbors weren’t limited to evangelism. Campers told SFGATE that Shift the Atmosphere played loud Christian EDM until being asked to turn down the volume. The camp was also stationed directly across from Kidsville, and a 12-year-old attendee said that he was offered coffee and matcha by the group but first had to listen to prayers and received a religious pamphlet.
Shift the Atmosphere’s departure apparently proved chaotic. One nearby attendee said he saw the camp being dismantled around 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday as strong winds sent pieces of its infrastructure into the street. Campers also said the missionaries left gear behind on the playa, running afoul of Burning Man’s “leave no trace” principle.
Christian evangelists have conducted similar outreach at Burning Man before. Philip Renner and his team claimed 22 salvations, 11 healings and 17 baptisms at last year’s gathering.
Hinerman, meanwhile, describes himself as a “missionary to America.” On a GoFundMe launched in August, the former Navy servicemember wrote that he travels across the country to preach and train churches in evangelism as part of what he called a “massive end-times revival.”
Burning Man 2026 runs through September 7th.
