The NIU student group Atheists, Agnostics and Freethinkers (AAFT) might not receive funding from the Student Association because of its potential designation as a religious organization.

AAFT, as described by president Kathryn Panger to the SA Senate, offers a “secular point-of-view” on the world. However, there is debate as to whether or not atheism, the disbelief in the existence of God and other supernatural entities, and agnosticism, the belief that the existence of God and other supernatural entities cannot be known entirely or just in part, amounts to a religion. Panger said.

Karl Weimer, vice-president of AAFT and freshman undecided major, said there is a difference between religion and atheism.

“I see religion as something that has to be taught, whereas atheism is something that’s assumed,” Weimer said. “If an infant grows up on a deserted island, and he somehow lives, he won’t have the concept of God.”

However, Alicia Finch, associate professor of philosophy, said that in some cases, atheism has adopted certain religious characteristics.

Finch referred to a Nov. 21 TIME magazine article on atheist parents sending their children to atheist Sunday schools. One such school, located in Palo Alto, Calif., has the younger students and parents sing songs such as “I’m Unique and Unrepeatable” while the older students are “engaged in a Socratic conversation” about the role persuasion plays in decision making.

“You can’t help but wonder if atheism has taken on the characteristics of a religion,” Finch said.

The SA finance policy prohibits several types of organizations from receiving SA funding, including religious, political, Greek and pre-professional groups.

Speaker Robert Batey said that while the SA has not taken an official stance on the organization, he does consider the organization a religious one.

“{Panger] did mention in her speech that one of their main tenets was to debate religion,” Batey said. “As long as it has that outlook, it will be considered a religious organization.”

The denial of funding could hamper AAFT’s activities. Weimer said the group was in the process of getting secular speakers to come to NIU, among others.

“We hope to have secular film showings, and those may or may not need funding,” Weimer said.

Atheists, Agnostics and Freethinkers meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Grant B Formal Room.

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