The Atheist, Humanist and Agnostic Club will be hosting an event that is open to all individuals on campus Feb. 4.
“The event is [a debate] between Ken Ham, who is the curator for the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky, and Bill Nye the Science Guy,” Jackson Miller, AHA club president and Biology major said. “Ken Ham will present his facts and information on creationism, and Bill Nye on evolution.”
He said the event isn’t limited to those who are or aren’t religious, and that some classes are offering extra credit for attending.
“I think that the debate is not structured to be a real debate, but a couple of presentations with one rebuttal and a Q – and – A session, and Bill Nye has said that he is not there to debate; he’s just there to present the information for evolution,” Miller said. “We are going to stream it live for free here at Sinclair for the students and it will be nonbiased — just for everyone’s enjoyment — to come and hear these two intellectuals present their sides of the story.”
He said if anyone is interested in joining the AHA club, they should consult the club’s Facebook page, facebook.com/AHAatSinclair.
He added that anyone is welcome to attend their weekly meetings, held every Thursday.
“Essentially anyone who doesn’t affiliate themselves with any type of religion or … creed, or is more or less apathetic toward it, we want them to have a place where they can interact … and build friendships and relationships with people on campus,” he said. “Also one of the main focuses of the AHA is to interact with the religious groups and people who are religious on campus — we feel that the terms agnostic and atheist sometimes are misconstrued and have a negative connotation to them, and we definitely would like to change that outlook.”
He explained that atheists are individuals who do not associate themselves with any type of religion, and rely on science to explain things; agnostics are individuals who are unsure of any religious affiliations and humanists are those who put individuals first.
“A humanist is a person who puts the individual first, the society first, as opposed to living your life for a superior being. We care for every individual in your group and you try to find ways to help the group move forward in a positive manner. I don’t know if that’s totally accurate, but that’s more or less how I see it,” he said. “An atheist is a person who doesn’t believe in any type of supernatural thing. They do rely very heavily on science, also with the understanding that science moves in a fashion where things are built on top of each other, so not everything can be explained by science at this point in time, but because you can’t explain something doesn’t mean you have to give it another reason; you wait for the evidence”
Miller said that agnostics are very similar to atheists in that they believe in evidence, but may not find whether or not their is a God important.”
A lot of people identify with being agnostic as ‘well I’m not really sure if there’s a God.’ A lot of them don’t find it necessarily important, or maybe they chalk it up to not having evidence either way,” he said.
He said the event will begin at 7 p.m. and will last two and a half hours. It will be presented in Building 14, Room 130. Cookies and refreshments will also be available at the event.