Behind the Scenes : Spirituality & Religion

The impact of veritas

Reactions to OU's Veritas Forum

By Maria Fisher, Staff Writer

April 18, 2007 | noon

The fictional character and soul searcher Palmer Joss, portrayed by Matthew McConaughey in the 1997 feature film "Contact," once said, "Ironically, the thing people are most hungry for, meaning, is the one thing science hasn't been able to give them."

Last week, this movie excerpt was played in front of a few hundred people in Ohio University's Convocation Center during the first night of the Veritas Forum, an exploration of "true life," consisting of lectures, question and answer sessions and a panel discussion sponsored by the OU chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ and the campus ministry group Reach Out on Campus.

The Veritas Forum actually began on campus during the three weeks before the actual forum with a survey of 1,964 randomly chosen students who were asked the following questions:

--Is there an intelligent designer of the universe? To this, 75 percent of those surveyed answered yes, while 25 percent answered either a no or a "not sure."

-- Fifty-nine percent said, "it is full of meaning and purpose"; 38 percent circled, "I don't know, but I try to make the best of it"; and 3 percent said, "it doesn't really matter; I am going to die at the end."

--Do you think followers of Jesus are tolerant? Thirty-four percent said yes; 19 percent said, "they are among the more intolerant people in the world"; and 47 percent had no opinion.

--Who is Jesus? Fifty-five percent said God. Twenty-five percent said either a "good teacher" or "other," and 7 percent said a prophet.

--After these four questions, those surveyed were asked to "rate their desire to know God" from one to ten. Eighty percent gave a rating from five to ten.

These questions were asked in preparation of the forum; the purpose of which, according to Reach Out on Campus member Jeremy Halfield, was "to generate a lot of interest among students in matters related to faith, specifically Christianity." The questions were to stir up some critical thinking among students as well as to prepare Forum leaders for the possible mindset of the prospective audience.

These were indeed the chief questions addressed during the forum, as philosopher, writer, theologian and speaker Dr. William Lane Craig spoke at the Tuesday and Wednesday night sessions, as well as the open panel discussion on Wednesday afternoon. He spoke in great detail, using language peppered with heavy philosophy about the probability of the existence of an Intelligent Being, which is what is called God, and the historical validity of the Bible as well as the life of Jesus Christ.

Student reactions to Dr. Craig's propositions were varied. After each of his lectures, audience members were given the opportunity to ask questions at two microphones situated at the front of the stage.>/p>
On the Wednesday afternoon following the first night of the Forum, an open panel discussion was held in Baker Center in which students and faculty could ask questions to a panel comprised of a local attorney, an OU world religions professor and Dr. Craig.

A member of the faculty in OU's psychology department challenged the panel, pointing out that the Veritas Forum had originally claimed to be an "open discussion" between Christians and skeptics about the Christian faith, but every speaker and member of the panel involved were self-professed Christians. Two out of the three panel members then said they were indeed skeptics, but believers nonetheless.

The second night of the forum closely followed the same pattern as the first, as Dr. Craig spoke about the historicity of the Bible from a historian's perspective. Students again joined the discussion with thoughtful questions about his theories and propositions.

The third night of the Forum centered on a personal talk by Kelly Monroe Kullberg, OU graduate and founder of the Veritas Forum.

Kullberg is editor of the book "Finding God at Harvard," a collection of personal stories of the "spiritual journeys of thinking Christians." She attended graduate school at Harvard University and found the atmosphere there to be one of much despair and emptiness. From these observations, she was moved to begin the Veritas Forum, to provide an exploratory atmosphere where students could be exposed to a "deeper meaning."

"The university of all places should be open to all questions and all possible answers - including the Christian perspective," Kullberg said.

Student reactions to the Veritas Forum were varied but shared a very general, similar theme of interest and appreciation. Almost every student questioned after the forum professed to already have been a Christian believer before the Forum.

OU student Parker Fernandez expressed his surprise and appreciation that a discussion such as this was even taking place. "This was definitely different than anything else we're hearing around here," he said.

OU freshman Josh Fowler said although he was a believer coming into the forum, the talk he heard still gave him "more concrete reasons to believe."

Kate Taylor appeared to find it refreshing "to see a professor's perspective rather than a pastor."

Several students from Marietta College also attended the Forum after hearing about it through their involvement in their school's chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ. One such student, Jeremiah Kuhn, found the forum to be "easy to follow, but intellectual enough to be challenging."

OU student Betsy Justues said she benefited greatly from the Forum.

"I am a Christian, but there were always questions I wouldn't know how to answer to someone, but now, I do," she said. She particularly liked Dr. Craig's analogy of water bottles. "He said there could be a million water bottles, each with a label reading 'poison' except for one which was only water. He said in the same way, the presence of the idea of millions of other gods in this world does not make Jesus less of the God he is," she said.

OU sophomore Lauren Brediger said, "it's really easy to get stuck in what you believe and to not hear other arguments and questions." She seemed to find the forum very educational and beneficial.

At the end of each night of the Forum, small survey cards were filled out by each audience member. The cards proposed three statements followed by a yes and a no to be circled by the audience member. The statements were: "this Veritas session caused me to reconsider some previously held ideas," to which around 50 percent said yes, and 45 percent said no; "I am interested in continuing a discussion about these issues," to which roughly 66 percent said yes, and 24 percent said no; and "I am interested in becoming involved in a discussion about what the Bible has to say about Jesus' life," to which around 43 percent said yes, and 38 percent said no. The cards also gave audience members an opportunity to request copies of articles by Dr. Craig.

Rich Teske, board member of Reach Out on Campus and one of the foremost planners of the Forum, estimated that about 500 to 600 people were in attendance on the first night of OU's Forum, 150 at the panel discussion Wednesday afternoon, 250 at the lecture Wednesday night and 300 Thursday night.

The Veritas Forum may or may not have brought OU students close to what is truly "veritas," or truth in Latin, but it has definitely sparked the flame of what is at the very least an immensely interesting conversation.