New Atheist and Agnostic Group Provides Forum for Students Without Dogmas

While there are plenty of groups for students who believe in everything from Catholicism to Zionism, until this semester, there was no group for students who don’t believe in anything.

Columbia Atheists and Agnostics, founded by Alon Levy, a mathematics M.A. student, was organized in an attempt to form what Levy calls “a safe space where the nonreligious can share their views without being called sinners.” After attending a student leadership conference at the Center for Inquiry, a nonprofit organization which supports scientific examination of religion and ethics, Levy was inspired to start an on-campus organization for the nonreligious.

“Atheists and agnostics I spoke to expressed issues with discrimination on campus. My goal was to bring more awareness to issues facing secularists,” Levy said. The mission statement for the organization echoes Levy’s statements, saying that “in an informal introductory meeting, some members shared experiences of harassment and discrimination from judgmental friends or family members, and expressed the need to be able to profess their non-belief without fear of ostracism.”

“I just want it to be an open discussion place for secular issues,” President Jennifer Bernstein, CC ’09 said. Unlike typical club gatherings that involve discussing an agenda, meetings of the Columbia Atheists and Agnostics are free-flowing discussions, according to Levy. He said the club’s mailing list boasts 54 members, but the number of students attending meetings averages around 20.

“Jen, the president, or I will usually throw out a leading question to the group, and we simply go off of that,” Levy said.

Meeting topics are philosophical and political in nature. The first meeting of the group focused on secular morality—morals without a religious foundation. The meeting became a lively discussion on whether one’s moral sense was an attribute of nature or nurture. Moral Minds by Marc Hauser, a book that examines how humans develop the capability to make moral decisions, became the backbone of the discussion. Several moral dilemmas from Hauser’s book were presented to the group and the solutions, as well as the reasoning behind the solutions, were debated.

“Discussions often turn into debates—we don’t all have the same views on issues concerning atheism and agnosticism. It’s refreshing to place your opinions out for reflection within an atheist-agnostic group,” Victorine Lamothe, BC ’11, said.

Ena Brdjanovic can be reached at news@columbiaspectator.com.