Ball State Secular Student Alliance
Where: Bracken Library, BL L82B
When: Sundays, 8 p.m.
Find out more about the national organization here.
A new group will give secular students — students who don't identify as any particular religion — an organization and a place to meet other people like them.
Although the number of millennials who identify as religious is decreasing, there still aren’t many groups for students who are not a member of any religion.
Ben McIntosh, a junior religious studies and philosophy double major, wanted to change this by working with the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) to establish a chapter at Ball State.
“There is a big need for a group devoted to firmly nonreligious students,” McIntosh said. “It’s important [for nonreligious students] to have a community to talk to, people who won’t look at them and say they’re crazy for not believing in religion.”
McIntosh was raised an Apostolic Pentecostal, but after reading the Bible all the way through, he found himself questioning his beliefs.
“I was very troubled by the depravity Yahweh allowed to happen,” McIntosh said. “Over about a year, I adjusted my beliefs.”
It took McIntosh about one year to become an “out” atheist; he worried about backlash from his family. One of his goals for the Ball State SSA is to make it a safe space for those who are scared to tell their families. The SSA will be open to everyone; those who are atheist, those questioning their religious beliefs and theists, McIntosh said.
“There’s a bad connotation with the word ‘atheist,’” McIntosh said. “People think you’re depraved and have no morals, but that isn’t true. I want to show the community we’re regular people who just happen to believe there is no God.”
Bryce Sigsbee, a freshman computer science major, identifies as nonreligious. The club is a great idea, he said.
“[The SSA] can provide one more group for students to get involved in and find friends with common ideas,” Sigsbee said. “I don’t know if I would join it, but I would definitely consider going for a meeting and seeing where it went from there.”
The first meeting was March 17, and since then SSA has already written a constitution and elected officers. McIntosh is in the process of applying to become an official Ball State organization. Until then, the club cannot reserve an academic space for meetings.
For now, the SSA meets in Bracken Library on Sundays at 8 p.m. There are about 30 students involved, and meetings typically last for an hour or an hour and a half. The first three meetings have been getting logistics out of the way, but McIntosh has bigger plans for the future.
“I want to talk a lot about different religious and philosophical views,” McIntosh said. “I want to talk about science and politics, and have people like professors, or even students, come in and give talks.”
McIntosh’s major plays a large role in thinking about what he wants to discuss in meetings.
“I have access to philosophy professors who could come and give talks,” McIntosh said. “I love doing research on religion and talking about it.”
This Sunday, the club will be watching “A Better Life: An Exploration of Joy & Meaning in a World Without God.” The documentary is a follow-up of a book by the same name. The author, Chris Johnson, showcases people who challenge the stereotypes of atheists.
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