Fireside to open debate on atheism

Two professors and an emerging student group want to bring atheism and agnosticism into the religious fold at Northwestern, two belief systems they said they feel have not had a voice on campus.

In a recent survey of incoming NU freshmen by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, 33 percent of respondents chose "none" when asked to indicate religion.

Math Prof. John Alongi said when he heard how many students self-identified as having no religion, he thought it was important to give these individuals a forum for discussion. He and English Prof. Bill Savage will hold a fireside at Slivka Residential College at 7 p.m. Tuesday to discuss atheism and agnosticism at NU.

Alongi teaches a freshman seminar called "The Modern Case for Atheism", in which he said he intends to develop students' writing and critical thinking skills with a provocative topic. Outside the classroom, he said he would like to increase awareness of the atheist and agnostic point of view.

"I certainly would like to raise the consciousness of people to a rational, natural reason-based world view as an alternative to the irrational, supernatural, faith-based superstitious world view," he said.

A new group looking to facilitate such discussion at NU is Secular Humanists for Inquiry and Free Thought, which is currently applying for Associated Student Government recognition. Group Co-presidents Cassy Byrne and Geoff Minger said the group's Facebook page is growing more rapidly than they anticipated, and has a following of 78 members as of Monday night. Byrne, a Weinberg sophomore, said the group is intended for atheists and agnostics as well as students questioning their religious beliefs.

"We plan to advocate skepticism, and (have) a place to gather and educate ourselves and others about secularism in society and humanism," Byrne said. "We do want to create a community for people to feel like they have somewhere to go when they feel different."

Minger, a Communication sophomore, said atheists may feel alone at NU.

"I used to feel suffocated," he said. "(SHIFT) is a lot about that community, the comfortable atmosphere."

Savage said in his time at NU as a Ph.D. student and professor, he cannot remember a group like SHIFT having a presence on campus.

"If there's a student group that's promoting atheism, agnosticism and secular humanism," he said, "I'm all for it ... In American culture we tend to give a lot of credence to people's religious beliefs, and we have a tradition of respecting religion. We don't have a similar trend in the other direction."

Lauren Berry, a Communication senior and Greek InterVarsity's outreach director, said the interfaith discussion is most effective in a less formal environment.

"It's valuable in more natural settings," she said. "We all go to Northwestern, we all take classes together. It's important for people not to stay in their own bubble."

Emily Raymond, a Weinberg senior, is writing an honors thesis about changes in religious groups on college campuses. She said NU has a vibrant religious community but lacks the atheist and agnostic perspective.

"What a lot of religions are concerned with are things like, ‘What is the purpose of life? What happens after we die? How do you be a moral person?'" Raymond said. "What the secular humanist movement has to say to those questions would be really interesting."
The fireside event Savage and Alongi will host Tuesday will attempt to define what atheism and agnosticism are and how they relate to secular humanism.

Savage said these alternative beliefs could be better addressed by the NU community.
"We can disagree about very fundamental things, but we can still get together and talk about it in a respectful and interesting way," he said. "This is just a conversation, but it's a conversation that isn't had often enough."

lark@u.northwestern.edu