Veritas conference preaches tolerance

By REBECCA MARTIN

Debate and defending personal beliefs while respecting others was the message of the Veritas Forum, held on campus last week.

Students and teachers alike appreciated the forum for different reasons.

“We’ve had great guests,” said Marshall Johnston, a Fresno State history teacher. “This is what a university does — have people of different ideas respectfully treated.”

Thursday’s afternoon’s topic, “The Resurrection: Fact or Fiction” inspired a variety of questions for the speaker, William Lane Craig. Craig began his part by discussing the historical aspects of the resurrection, then opened up the forum to questions.

Questions for Craig ranged from skeptical audience members asking about the factual evidence of the resurrection to those wondering about the pagan impact of the story of Jesus’ resurrection.

Members in the audience had positive responses to Craig after his presentation.

“I love it,” said Elijah Freeman, a double major in exercise physiology and physical therapy. “I liked being able to talk to someone as renowned as Dr. Craig.”

Johnston said he was generally impressed with the level of maturity that came from the audience during the presentation.

“I’ve been extremely impressed with the questions and turnouts,” Johnston said.

Senior Caesar Van Till agreed.

“I’ve really enjoyed the different perspectives,” Till said.

Freeman is familiar with Craig’s works on the apologetic Christian argument and was pleasantly surprised with Craig’s presentation.

“He was really smooth,” Freeman said. “I thought he would be more aggressive, from his works, but he wasn’t.”

The Veritas Forum began on Tuesday with a panel discussion titled “What Do You Believe and Why?” The panel included representatives of the Buddhist, Jewish, Humanist, Christian and Islamic faiths.

Each person spoke for 10 minutes on what he or she believed and how he or she reached that belief.

The panel answered questions from the audience about their beliefs after their presentations.

While many students attended one or two of the events, Van Till said he went to the majority of the events.

“I go to the clubs that put it on, both Campus Crusade and Intervarsity,” Van Till said.

Van Till said his favorite event was on Wednesday night, titled “Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Lies, Hype, and Spin” with guest speaker Os Guinness.

“It made me realize my grasp on truth could be wrong as well,” Van Till said. “It let me look at truth from different perspectives.”

Not just students were able to gain knowledge from the Veritas Forum.

“I think it helps my teaching,” Johnston said. “It helps the graduate students, for example, with the question of what it means for a document to be divinely inspired.”

Johnston said he hoped students gained from the forum.

We’re not just here for a degree; we’re here for a bigger project,” Johnston said.