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| Members of the AV俱乐部 Atheist Community. (Bruce Bottomley Photo) |
Derek Rodgers鈥� sense of wonder about things is palpable. The second-year biology student scrolls through his cell phone images to display photographs taken by the Hubble telescope. He enthusiastically talks about the enormity of space while pointing to the pictures of tiny lights containing galaxies upon galaxies.
鈥淪cience gives us a kind of perspective that is completely awe-inspiring,鈥� he says.聽
He鈥檚 one of the founding members of the AV俱乐部 Atheist Community, now in its second year on campus. He helped establish the group because 鈥渢here wasn鈥檛 a group for atheists, humanists, secularists鈥攖hose people coming under the umbrella of free thinkers.鈥� He wanted to provide a meeting place and a social environment for non-religious people to talk about the issues they are interested in. The community, which includes students from kinesiology, biology, Canadian studies and law, meets monthly and is hoping to have short talks by members and movie showings as part of the occasion. The group is also interested in community activism 鈥渨here we feel the need to advocate around issues.鈥�
The group opted for the word 鈥渁theist鈥� instead of 鈥渇ree thinker鈥� because it is unambiguous. 鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult to organize non-believers,鈥� says Mr. Rodgers, 鈥渋t鈥檚 like herding cats. We are very different people. Our only commonality is non-belief. The closest thing to a common position is anti-dogmatism,鈥� although all members place a high value on 鈥渆mpirically verifiable scientific data.鈥�
He became involved in the Free Thought movement in high school.聽A formative moment came for him when a visiting Christian speaker addressing the school community made statements about evolution that he describes as 鈥渁 stack of logical fallacies.鈥�
鈥淏eing a science nerd... I thought, 鈥榯here has to be a response to this鈥�.鈥� He prepared a rebuttal in which he invited like-minded students to join him in developing a Free Thought Society, apparently the first of its kind for a high school in North America.
鈥淚 call myself an atheist. I consider myself a skeptic,鈥� says Mr. Rodgers. 鈥淎 skeptic places a high value on evidence to be convinced of something. I haven鈥檛 heard convincing reasons why I should be a theist.鈥�
He maintains that humanist values 鈥渆mphasize the inherent moral worth of people鈥� And argues that traditional monotheistic religions tend to denigrate human beings with concepts like original sin or over-emphasize the importance of humanity in the grand scheme of things.
鈥淪cience helps us to understand our place in the universe; it shatters the idea that humans are imbued with importance.鈥�
鈥淩eligion is not a prerequisite to being a moral person鈥� he adds, pointing out that the search for meaning is a question taken up by non-believers and believers alike. 鈥淭he most profound questions we can ask are, 鈥榠s there meaning in life?鈥� 鈥榃hat is our place?鈥� For free thinkers, the tools and methods of science are the best ways of knowing鈥� the answers to these questions.聽