to the web home of the Society of Non-Theists at Purdue University. We are a student organization formed in 2007 for students who are Atheist, Agnostic, Ignostic, Objectivist, Pastafarian, Skeptic, Secular Humanist, or just otherwise not inclined to have religious or supernatural beliefs. However, all open-minded individuals are welcome to join us in our activities and discussions regardless of their religious preference.
The Society of Non-Theists will be attending the annual BGR activities fair. If you're an incoming freshman attending BGR be sure to stop by the Armory on August 17th between 11:00am and 1:00pm.
Be sure to also join our organization on getInvolved, and follow us on facebook for all the latest updates on our events.
We look forward to seeing you at the activities fair, and at our events for fall semester!
Posted by Bryan Ehrlich on 2010-08-11 22:53:38.
The Secular Student Alliance awarded its Best Service Project Award to the Society of Non-Theists at Purdue. The group partook in a number of community service efforts, including supporting a local food bank, cleaning up trash, and raising money to send an atheist to church. For the food bank, the Society of Non-Theists collected nearly 100 pounds of food as part of the university's fall food drive. Then, the group cleaned up roughly 20 bags of trash as part of beautifying the grounds around campus.The award will be presented at the SSA's 2010 annual conference on July 24 in Columbus, OH.
In addition, the Society of Non-Theists at Purdue raised $360 to send an atheist to church. Inspired by Hemant Mehta's "selling his soul on eBay," the club collected money to send its members to a worship service. The group provided a number of collection jars, and each was filled with money to vote for a particular denomination. The church with the most in its jar would be the place where club members would visit, and all the proceeds were donated to a local food bank. Purdue's efforts not only led to the raising of $360 and visiting of twelve churches; they also received local media coverage. We are pleased to present our 2010 Best Service Project Award to the Purdue Non-Theists!
Posted by Lauren Stuart on 2010-07-02 20:02:35.
The God Virus
A Lecture by Dr. Darrel Ray
Where: BRNG 2280
When: April 29th, 2009 5:00pm - 7:00pm
For thousands of years, religion has woven its way through societies and people as if it were part and parcel to that society or person. In large measure it was left unexplained and unchallenged, it simply existed. Those who attempted to challenge and expose religion were often persecuted, excommunicated, shunned, or even executed. It could be fatal to explain that which the church, priest or imam said was unexplainable. Dr. Ray discusses this and much more in his engaging and entertaining presentation.
Dr. Ray is a psychologist and student of religion, sociology and anthropology. He is also founder of Recovering from Religion.
His insights on religion and religious infection have been praised by authors and experts like Dale McGowan, Dan Barker, Frank Schaeffer, Edwin Kagin, and many others. The God Virus has been top of the Science and Religion best sellers on Amazon for several months.
Learn how his revolutionary ideas explain: the fundamentalism of your Uncle Ned, the sexual behavior of a fallen mega church minister, the child rearing practices of a Pentecostal neighbor, why 19 men flew planes into the World Trade Center, why religion protects pedophile priests and how it might affect a person's IQ.
Afterward, we will be going to Boiler Market for dinner and discussion.
Posted by Lauren Stuart on 2010-04-27 23:09:26.
Fiction for Fiction
Where: PHYS 223
When: April 15th, 2009 9:00am - 4:30pm
On Thursday, April 15th, we will be outside CL50 from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Bring any religious text and trade it in for a great fiction novel. Examples of religious texts include (but are not limited to) the Bhagavad Gita, Bible, Dianetics, Five Classics, Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Hebrew Bible, Koran, Satanic Bible, Tao-te-ching, Torah, Vedas, etc. Pocket sizes are fine too.
We hope to get this general message across to as many people as possible: While religious texts may give some moral guidance, that doesn’t mean every word they contain is necessarily true. Morals and insight into human life can be taken from nearly any fiction novel. You have to critically think about what you’re reading and not just take it at face value, or how someone is telling you that you should understand it. Question what you read and what you are told, and come to your own conclusions about what is true.
We have a wide range of classics and recently popular books. They're all used, but in fairly good condition.
We will not burn or defile any of the religious texts that are turned into our group. They will be kept for our personal library so members can learn about various religions.
Posted by Lauren Stuart on 2010-04-11 13:38:29.
Kicking the Christian Strawman: What Christians are really like
Talk and Q&A w/ Rev. Jon Weyer
Where: PHYS 223
When: March 31st, 2009 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Free, Open to public
Atheists spend so much time trying to get religious people to understand them, so now it's time for us to learn a little more about Christianity. Jon has a lot of experience cooperating with atheist groups, so hopefully his talk will:
- Help us understand how Christians view the world
- Help us understand American Christianity
- Debunk stereotypes about Christianity & Christians
Rev. Jonathan Weyer is a campus minister with the CCO at The Ohio State University and an ordanied minister with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. At Ohio State, he started a group called "The Thomas Society" that seeks to honestly discuss questions about God, the nature of reality, and how people ought to live their lives. He has worked extensively with the Students for Freethought and SSA board member Ashley Paramore to create an atmosphere of cooperation and dialogue between Christians and Atheists at Ohio State. As a part of this work, they are taking service project trips to New Orleans over spring break, hosting joint group discussions, and events that including bringing Hemant Mehta to campus. He lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and three kids. To relax, he likes to write novels that scare people, sometimes intentionally.
Jonathan also writes the blog for the Thomas Society at www.thomas2026.wordpress.com
Sponsored by the Society of Non-Theists
Posted by Lauren Stuart on 2010-03-28 18:00:13.
Send an Atheist to Church
Raise money for charity AND save our souls!
Where:UNION ground floor tables (by Zia Juice & Starbucks)
When: Thursday 2/18 & Friday 2/19 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
(Flyer here)
The main goal of this event is to come up with a creative idea to raise money for a charity that everyone can agree is very important in our community. We also want to show that non-theists are open minded about religious ideas, and that we're willing to learn more about other people's faith. The way it works is as follows:
1. Make a cash donation - ALL proceeds go to Food Finders Food Bank of Tippecanoe County (http://www.food-finders.org/).
2. Choose what denomination of religious services you want us atheists to attend.
3. The more money donated in a denomination's name, the more visits it receives.
Currently participating denominations:
Baptist (Faith Baptist Church)
Episcopalian (Chapel of the Good Shepard)
Orthodox (Saint Alexis Orthodox Church)
Church of the Latter-Day Saints (Purdue LDS ward)
Non-denominational Christian (City of God Church)
United Methodist (Wesley Foundation)
Judaism (Purdue Hillel)
Buddhists (Purdue Buddhist Society)
IF YOU SEE CERTAIN RELIGIONS MISSING FROM OUR LIST and you know a place of worship that would like to participate, PLEASE let us know before Thursday and we will add them to the list! The more, the merrier! It doesn't have to be a Christian denomination - "Church" is used just for a catchy title.
ANYONE can donate, regardless if they're a Purdue student, a member of a participating church, etc. If you can't physically come to make a donation during the listed times, you can also make a check out to Food Finders Food Bank (be sure to note what denomination it's going toward!) and mail it to:
The Society of Non-Theists
Stewart Center, Box #566
128 Memorial Mall
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2034
Sponsored by the Society of Non-Theists
http://www.purduenontheists.com/
Inspired by Hemant Mehta's book, I Sold My Soul on eBay http://www.amazon.com/Sold-My-Soul-eBay-Atheists/dp/1400073472
Posted by Lauren Stuart on 2010-02-16 20:55:54.
Bi-Weekly Meetings
Beginning Sept. 8th
Phys 203, 6:30 PM
Subscribe to our RSS feed!
Join our group in the "Purdue" network!
Secular Student Alliance.
Center for Inquiry
