Students and spectators were given the chance to ask “Jesus” their questions in person on Speakers Circle on Wednesday afternoon.
James Pflug, former president of MU’s Skeptics, Athiests, Secular Humanists and Agnostics, dressed up as Jesus to answer questions from students. SASHA called it, “What Would Jesus Do? — Ask him yourself.”
SASHA Vice President Dave Muscato said the main idea was that instead of looking to the bible, students could ask an atheist how they make ethical decisions.
“The dressing up as Jesus part is mostly to get attention,” Muscato said.
The event was also to promote SASHA’s weekly meeting Wednesday night, where members celebrated their blog’s 100th article with cake.
Pflug said they began planning the event in the middle of the summer.
“We had a couple organizational meetings where we tossed around ideas for the semester,” Pflug said. “This is one everybody liked.”
Brother Jed was also in Speakers Circle with “Jesus.” Muscato said Brother Jed will be in Speakers Circle on Monday through Friday, as he is several times a year.
When “Jesus” first stepped into Speakers Circle and began to talk with student spectators, Sister Cindy, Brother Jed’s wife, looked on silently. Before long, Brother Jed joined him in the circle, answering student questions.
Muscato said though some students asked joking questions such as “Coke or Pepsi?” others asked serious ones.
He also said after, at the “ask an atheist” table, there were at least a dozen good discussions about philosophical matters.
“It’s fun stuff,” he said.
Pflug said dressing up as Jesus was enjoyable.
“People were asking questions, and it was silly,” he said.
At one point, someone dressed as a Roman soldier began to chase Jesus around Speakers Circle. Muscato said it got a lot of laughs and was definitely meant as a mocking of religion, but with a purpose.
“There is a place in rhetoric for mocking,” he said. “Part of the reason we did this is to disarm the idea that these things are sacred and cannot be questioned.”
Muscato said sometimes in the course of an argument, people get offended.
“But that is not our purpose,” he said.
Muscato said one purpose was to help people understand how atheists make decisions about ethics.
As a group, Muscato said SASHA looks to raise awareness about atheism, about what secular people believe and how they make decisions.
Muscato said a lot of people don’t necessarily leave the church when they realize they’re atheists because they have friends and family there or because there are social pressures to stay.
“We’re here to be a place of community for secular people,” he said, “So you can hang out with people with the same views.”
He said it is also a place to ask questions.
“A lot of members aren’t atheists, but they come to ask questions, and we ask them questions too,” he said.
Members of SASHA can often be found in Speakers Circle.
Junior Emily Woodall, a spectator, said she really likes Speakers Circle because you can have these clashes of culture and ideals in a non-violent manner. Junior Seth Morrison, another spectator, had a different view.
“I think it serves its point in that people can go out and express their beliefs,” Morrison said. “But when people have conflicting beliefs, it just turns into an argument and it’s pointless.”
Pflug said as far as the audience went, he saw mostly positive reactions.
“I’m glad no one got really angry with me,” Pflug said. “That was a possibility.”