The question of faith

In the U.S., people pride themselves in being free to make their own decisions - like choosing a religion. As students seek philosophical ideas, the question of faith is raised.

The Agnostic Atheist Student Group hopes to provide answers to those questions through discussion and education.

"Some people are hostile, but I think that's just because in any large group, you get extremists," said Landon Proctor, a senior entomology major. "So there's a few that are going to come out to actively be against us. But most people are curious, they want to know more, learn more and talk to us."

Proctor is the president of AASG. He said the group hopes to be recognized for its efforts."We work really hard to be a respected organization and to be known, but not offensive to anyone, and to seek acceptance and form awareness to everyone," he said.

The organization works to clarify what it means to be an atheist or agnostic.

"When we ask people what they think atheism or agnosticism is, people go as far as to say we worship Satan or we have rituals or we're rebelling against the world," Proctor said. "They don't necessarily understand the philosophic thought and scientific effort that's put forth in our efforts of finding the truth about the world."

Proctor said being an atheist or an agnostic means having to do a lot of explaining.

"We also get this question of morality a lot," he said. "People assume we have no morals because we have no religious code. So we spend a lot of time explaining how it's possible to have morals without religion telling you what to believe."

Proctor said he hopes his fellow Aggies will try to understand AASG's effforts.

"We just want people to know that we're not horrible people," he said. "We're good, outstanding, moral citizens and we contribute to Texas A&M and the community."

However, some misconceptions have surfaced about the identity and values of the AASG.

"The organization doesn't hold a particular belief system," he said. "Our mission is to bring people together who want to talk in a secular setting and who want to have educated conversations. But our group was founded as being a social group, as being a place for people to come together and who just kind of enjoy knowing like-minded people."

Founded in the 1970s, AASG does not limit membership to solely agnostics and atheists.

"Everyone's welcome," Proctor said. "We have deists, theists, Christians, Muslims and more, as well as conservatives, moderates and liberals."

Proctor said the number of people attending the group's meetings and events has increased because people are starting to better understand the definitions of atheism and agnosticism.

Webster's Dictionary defines agnostic as being "one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god."

"Agnostic is someone who doesn't know whether or not there is a god, or they don't know the purpose of life or may not care," Proctor said. "They may think that it may never be known. They may also think it's not a question that should be known, and they simply don't follow a religion."

An atheist is defined by Webster's as "one who believes that there is no deity."

"There are several kinds of atheists: a stronger atheist is someone who knows there's no God, and they think that you will eventually be able to prove there is no God," Proctor said. "A weaker atheist is someone who doesn't believe there is a God, but they can't prove to you there is one."

AASG seeks knowledge through observation, research and discussion of new ideas.

"It is just continuously using critical thinking and trying to question the world around without just accepting anything and continuously going out and searching and figuring out what makes up your world," said Christene Deering, senior environmental design major and AASG secretary.

Events On-campus Catholic Bible study at 7 p.m in Rudder. Pizza in the Hut. Free pizza at 7 p.m. in the Sukkah at the TAMU Hillel Foundation. Breakaway. Non-denominational Bible study at 9 p.m. in Reed Arena. Jewish holiday Sukkot begins.

Thursday Upstream Freshmen Bible study at 8:30 p.m. in All Faith's Chapel. Hookah in the Sukkah at 9 p.m. in the Hillel Student Center Wesley Foundation's International Bible Study at 7 p.m. Corporate Prayer at 7 p.m. in Cain Park. Join the TAMU Navigators to pray.

Monday St. Mary's Youth Retreat Team meeting at 7:45 p.m. at St. Mary's. Lutheran Student Fellowship. "The Screwtape Letters" bible study at 6 p.m. in the Flagroom. Birth of the B'ab for Baha'i religion. Source: Student activities