Upcoming Events

Callout! - 9/8/10
Mark your calendar, September 8 at 6:30pm in Physics 203 will be our fall call-out!
More info coming soon.

Past Events

The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Our Culture - 4/29/10
Darrel Ray, author of The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Our Culture, came to give a talk on the spread and consequences of religious ideas and how entrenched some are in our society. He offered some tips on dealing with such entrenchment and what it means for some of our personal and public interactions.

Fiction for Fiction - 4/15/10

Kicking the Christian Strawman: What Christians are really like - 3/31/10
Rev. Jonathan Weyer is a Presbyterian minister and founder of the Thomas Society -- a group dedicated to cooperation and discussion between Christians and atheists at Ohio State. He came to dissect and discuss some stereotypes of Christians by atheists that he has seen.

Creationist Bingo - 3/24/10
The club watched creationist YouTube videos and played bingo on cards with real fallacies, cliches, and talking points commonly found in arguments promoting creationism.

Atheism and the Internet - 2/24/10
One of our members, Shawn Miller, gave a presentation on the relationship between atheism and the internet, with some insights into why the two are so close.

Send an Atheist to Church - 2/18/10 and 2/19/10
Inspired by Hemant Mehta's book I Sold My Soul on eBay, some of our members volunteered to go to church services in exchange for donations to Food Finders Food Bank in Lafayette. We set up a table in the Union to collect donations as "votes" for which service (of a list of participating worship centers/groups) to send members to. We raised $362.95!

Darwin Day & Darwin Fish Fundraiser - 2/12/10
Our yearly fundraiser: we celebrated Darwin Day by selling bumper stickers, Darwin fish (for your car), earrings, and more in the Lilly lobby.

Atheist Bible Study - 2/10/10
One of our members, Bryan Erlich, has taken on the daunting task of reading the entire Bible in one year. He gave a presentation on the fallibility of the Bible as exposed by Leviticus, paying special attention to features of God, transgressions and their punishments, and category errors.

Greta Christina on Atheism and Sexuality - 2/5/09
Greta Christina, blogger on skepticism and professional writer on sexuality, came to give a talk on sexual morality, sex positivity, and other attitudes towards sex as they relate to the non-religious community. Also sponsored by the Queer Student Union. We had fantastic turnout, many laughs, and a bunch of positive reactions. Video here.

Discussion Day: Pros and Cons of Nontheist Labels - 1/27/10

Fall Harvest Food Drive until November 21st
This is our second year in a row participating in this drive. We'll be accepting donations of canned or nonperishable food items at any of our events until November 21st. Last year we raised over 100 pounds of food; this year, our goal is to raise more!

"A Few Things I've Learned from Creationists" - 11/12/09
PZ Myers -- biologist, scienceblogger, and atheist, of Pharyngula -- gave a survey of bad ideas from those who oppose evolution. The presentation was well-attended and well-recieved (don't forget funny, informative, and followed by a great Q&A session) and afterwards Dr. Myers accompanied a group of attendees to Boiler Market for chow and chat. Video here.

Secular Service Day - 10/18/09
Non-Theists met at the tables near Hot Box pizza on Chauncey Hill and spent the morning cleaning up the streets around Chauncey Village. After the Ohio State win, there was much celebrating; hence, plenty to pick up. We even made it onto the local news!

Blasphemy Day - 9/30/09
International Blasphemy Day is focused on the free discussion and criticism of religious beliefs on the same level as other topics. The Society provided posters and markers for passersby to freely express themselves in writing or drawings. Reactions were overall positive and encouraging, and we got some pretty good-looking posters!

When Dinosaurs Walk with God - 9/21/09
Jen shared her experience of walking through the Creation Museum and what it means for atheism and science. Video here.

Pastafarian Preaching - 9/18/09
Club members dressed up like pirates and spread the message of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to the uninitiated in an event aimed to parody and satirize religious proselytizing. Local news team WLFI covered the event here.

Discussion Day: "Why I'm Not Religious" - 9/9/09
Dozens of people showed up to share their stories about being a non-believer. There were backgrounds ranging from fundamentalist to moderate, long-time skeptic to god-ignorant to hardcore theist... This was a really successful ice-breaker event, getting our members connected with each other and with the club.

Fall Callout - 9/2/09
We had 104 people show up to this callout! Good showing, non-theists! Many free and delicious cookies were devoured, and we got some great event ideas.

Freethinker Photo Scavenger Hunt - 8/2/09
We met at the middle of Memorial Mall at 2:00 PM for a Photo Scavenger Hunt, with a list of things or actions that the groups had to photograph themselves in in front of or doing around campus/West Lafayette. All the items and actions ont he list were atheism or science related, and points were rewarded for each photo completed.

Fiction for Fiction - 4/14/09
We sat outside CL50 so people could trade their religious texts for a fiction novel. Our message was that 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 had a great response - a bunch of people traded books, and even more people came to talk to us to know what we were about. Overall we had a positive reaction, even from theists.

Boiler Blast - 04/04/09 - Photoes
Boiler Blast is a yearly community service day for the Purdue campus, where groups of students volunteer to do works around the community. A cohort of our members participated as Non-Theists.

Talk with Hemant Mehta - 03/31/2009

What does a standing army say about "In God We Trust? - 03/26/2009

Evolution: Myths and Misconceptions - 02/12/2009 A panel of Purdue professorsdiscussed common myths and misconceptions in an attempt to educate the public about what evolution really is by fielding questions from the audience.

The God Who Wasn't There: Was Jesus Just a Myth? - 01/28/2009 Documentary by Brian Flemming. After watching the documentary, a full-on discussion ensued. Since time was limited, it was decided that the topic would continue on at the next meeting.

Why There Really Is No God - 11/19/2008 Eddie Tabash presentedhis argument for why there is no God. After his presentation, he also took time to answer questions asked by the audience.

How Morality Evolved (with some comments on why our species is religious) - 11/12/2008
Presentation by Dr. E. J. Capaldi of the Psychology Department: "Evolutionary theorists suggest that religion is a simple consequence of normal human cognition. Morality is a consequence of two highly prized evolutionary theories: Hamilton's inclusive fitness view and Trivers' reciprocal altruism view. Following a few comments on religion I will focus attention on the evolution of morality."

Faith and Inquiry: Confession of an Evidential Agnostic - 10/29/2008
Presentation by Dr. Paul Draper of the Philosophy Department.

Journey Through the Creation Museum - 10/08/08
This was a fun, although scary, event. A Non-Theist member and a few friends ventured through the newly built Creation Museum located in Hebron, KY.

Separation of Church & State Information Table - 9/30/08-10/02/08
The table was a success. While we did not have many people questioning the separation of church and state, we did get a lot of people registered to vote.

FSM Preaching - 9/19/08
Ahoy! International Talk like a Pirate Day was absolutely perfect for the FSM preaching. Lots of people complimented our pirate-y preachers and their message about His Noodliness. Hopefully, a lot of people also took away the message that the burden of proof lies within individuals making unfalsifiable claims.

FSM Detail Meeting - 9/10/08
We went over where we'd be during the FSM preaching, certain rules to abide by, and what to include on the posters. If you missed the meeting, but still want to participate in this event, e-mail Jennifer McCreight.

Is the Jesus Story Just A Retelling Of Myths From Earlier Cultures? - 9/4/08
A forum hosted by Freethinkers of Montgomery County and presentated by Matt Stath.

Fall Callout - 9/3/08
This was the first meeting of the new semester. Thanks to everyone who came to the callout! We had a huge crowd. If you're still interested in joining, come to any of our other meetings. In the callout, we discussed what the club was all about as well as events we'd like to do this semester.

Game Night - 4/25/08
We had a blast playing Apples to Apples, Trivial Pursuit, and other board games (and eating delicious chocolate chip cookies) in the lounge of Earhart Hall.

Fiction for Fiction - 4/15/08 - Photos
We sat outside CL50 so people could trade their religious texts for a fiction novel. Our message was that 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 had a great response - a bunch of people traded books, and even more people came to talk to us to know what we were about. Overall we had a positive reaction, even from theists.

Debunking Myths about Atheists - 2/26/08
We had a presentation and panel discussion on the stereotypes and myths people have about Non-Theists. The Exponent ran an article about it, which can be found here.

Free Hugs and Kisses - 2/14/08 - Photos
We gave away free hugs and Hershey's kisses to random people on campus. Attached to the chocolate were little fliers debunking myths about how atheists are mean, depressed people who hate God and religious people. We had a great response and hugged hundreds of people! Though next time we'll probably have it indoors - it was freezing!

Movie Night: Root of All Evil - 2/6/08
Richard Dawkins and cookies - what can beat that?

Movie Night: Jesus Camp - 11/19/07
We had pizza too! Mmm, pizza and a scary documentary!

Darwin Fish Sale - 11/14/07
We sold various Darwin Fish merchandise (mouse pads, pins, earrings, magnets, patches, bumper stickers) outside of CL50. All of the merchandise was gratiously donated to us by Poe Specialties. This was really successful fundraiser; we made about $200.

A Darwinian View of a Hostile Atheist - 10/17/08
Dr. Irwin Tessman, Professor Emeritus in the Biology Department of Purdue University, is well known for debating the effectiveness of prayer in relation to medical recovery. He gave agreat lecture of Richard Dawkins, morality, Darwin's idea of altruism, and the "war" between science and religion. An audio recording of the lecture can be found here (Size: ~65MB, Length: 1 hr, 7 min). His article that his lecture was based on was featured in the Skeptical Inquirer and can be found here.

Discussion: Why I'm a Non-Theist - 10/10/08
We had a general discussion amongst members about our nonbeliefs. We discussed either how we went from a religious family to being a non-theist or how we were raised as non-theists, what reactions we've had from family, friends, and the public, and general reasons why we are non-theists. This was very cathartic and everyone got to know each other well from just sitting around and talking (something that a lot of us really like to do!)