On March 29, the Campus Freethought Alliance will sponsor a debate about the existence of God, which will pit Edward Tabash of the Center for Inquiry against Rev. Joel A. Reif from the First United Church of Christ of Orlando. The debate will be a five-part question-and-answer format, with the speakers fielding questions from each other and audience members.
The CFA is an organization devoted to reaching out to students, the religious and secular alike.
Ken Swan, vice president of CFA, says the purpose is primarily to promote science, the separation of church and state and an inquiry into all areas of human interest where no question is off limits.
"We are open-minded," Swan said. "We are not a group of atheists who are only trying to promote themselves. We are a group who wants to discuss everything, and we are always willing to discuss any viewpoint that is brought to the table. We are open-minded toward other religions, but we do not allow faith to be a conversation stopper."
Costas Efthimiou, assistant professor of physics, founder of the UCF chapter of the CFA and the adviser to the group, believes that there is a need on campus for the CFA. According to the Science and Engineering Indicators' research on public attitudes toward science and the pseudoscience, more than 50 percent of Americans hold beliefs in at least two pseudosciences.
Pseudoscience, as defined by the American Heritage dictionary, is a theory, methodology or practice that is considered to be without scientific foundation. Efthimiou said that with these high levels of beliefs in pseudoscience, there is a need for public education on what real science is. The CFA seeks to interpret the world without the interference of the supernatural and superstitions.
CFA meetings are round-table discussions and are held bimonthly on the first and third Wednesday of every month. Swan says the group doesn't do rallies or protests but is more interested in debate and discussion.
One such opportunity is the debate in March on the existence of God.
"I don't think we are going to solve the issue," Efthimiou said. "That's an issue that has been open for hundreds of years if not thousands, if not millions, since the first humans walked on earth. But it will be a debate to force them [students] to think about scientific interpretations and what is really happening in the world."
Efthimiou said that depending on the success of the debate, the CFA will most likely sponsor future discussions and debates on other crucial issues of society.
Students have mixed emotions on the role of the CFA on campus.
Dave Miller, an economics major, doesn't view himself as religious but as spiritual. Miller says there are a lot of different people and religions; he likes to see a group that doesn't fight but discusses these differences.
However, some students believe the CFA goes a bit too far with the way they act on campus. Joseph Allison, a 20-year-old engineering student, said that he feels it is their right to be on campus, but their methods outside the Student Union are sometimes more argumentative than helpful.
"If they were really serious about discussing religion," Allison said, "they wouldn't try their best to bash it every chance they get."
Swan says the CFA is a positive counterbalance to the religious organizations and movements on campus. The CFA says it promotes the freedom for inquiry and a release from dogmas and doctrines.
Swan said it's not that religious movements suppress peoples' thoughts as some may think, but that some people are taking things on blind faith. The CFA, however, demands the evidence.
The CFA is foremost a non-religious secular movement primarily for the students of UCF. The group is beginning anew after a nearly disastrous disbanding in spring 2006, and is once again reaching out to all UCF students.
Kyle Fasanella, a 20-year-old film student, stands above the crowd around the Student Union, wearing clothing reminiscent of Catholic priests and speaks to students and others around the Union. Fasanella and the CFA can be found almost weekly, braving the elements to share their belief of inquiry with passerbys.
CFA is nationally affiliated with the Center for Inquiry and has between 20 to 30 members. Although the membership is primarily atheist, it's not necessary to be an atheist or even someone who questions their faith, Swan said.
"We have many theists who come, and are members, active members, who come to all the meetings," Swan said. "Not just people who come once to yell at us, but people who come to, you know, hang out."
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