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Warwick Atheists is a student society catering for non-religious students at the University of Warwick.

History

The Warwick Atheists was founded in 2007 by Ben Smith and Sam Corcoran. With ten religious societies within the university, there were a lot of organised events catering to theist or otherwise religious students without any secular opposition or alternative.

Notable such events, like the Christian Union's annual recruitment week (dubbed "Mission Week") were left unchallenged by the student body. The founding members felt there needed to be a voice for secular or irreligious students on campus to give fair and balanced discussions and provide an equivalent community structure.

Despite the name, Warwick Atheists is aimed at open-minded religious and non-religious students, but with a particular focus on atheist, agnostic, secular(ist), humanist, freethinking and rationalist individuals.

Structure

The present Warwick Atheists executive committee consist of the following mandatory officers:

• President
• Treaurer
• Secretary

Assisting are the following optional roles:

• Events Organiser
• Social Secretary
• Publicity Officer

The Warwick University Students' Union requires that an officer attend an equal opportunities training session to take on the role of being responsible for each society's adherence to equal opportunity rules. This is assigned to one of the existing roles.

We named a Vice President from the committee, too, whose role is unspecific in day-to-day affairs but who can be called upon if the President is absent.

The most web-proficient of the committee this year has taken the role of webmaster, to update and maintain the online face of the society.

Organisation

The society is led by the exec, who meet once a week to discuss and arrange the following week's plans. From January, the society will encourage non-exec members to participate in the meetings (due to room-booking and timetabling irregularities, the first term's meetings weren't advertised to non-committee members).

The meetings are held in small classrooms, and because of the small numbers and closeness of the committee, it's possible to hold meetings without much formality (though an overall structure is usually followed).

The society's public face is mostly the group on Facebook. The website, conversely, is not regularly updated, something that is looking to be improved upon in the new term. There are plans to have member-submitted articles or essays or blog entries to encourage readership, as most members prefer to use the Facebook group for discussion and events, and non-Facebook members receive e-mail updates sent by the secretary.

Events

Warwick Atheists's society-run activities fall into two main categories. They hold informal socials and more formal events.

Socials

The socials held by the society have included:

• Casual meetings at a pub
• Jointly attending union-run events
• Restaurant meals

These are sometimes, particularly the latter two types, accompanied by a dress theme, such as the Pastafarian night out, which had a pirate-themed dress code.

The socials are quite effective at getting to know members of the society well. It's a chance for members to turn up in a more relaxed and casual environment, which we hope sets people at ease if they are thinking of coming along for the first time.

Meals get the best turnout. The meals are booked in advance based on the number of people who have reserved a place by e-mail or on Facebook.

All socials are open to everyone (whether a member or not) and (in the exception of attending pre-existing events hosted by the Union) are free admission.

Events

Past events include:

• Film showings (e.g., Root of All Evil?, The God Who Wasn't There etc.)
• Student-led talks sessions on a central theme (e.g., "Living Without God" and "The Importance of Atheism")
• External speaker talks (Andrew Copson on the topic of faith schools)

Planned and possible upcoming events:

• More films and student-led talks
• External speaker or speakers to talk or debate
• Essay competitions and readings
• End of term Quiz Night (open to AHS members also)
• Student debates between two or more religious societies
• Agnostic night - a chance for those with questions to meet the society and ask questions

Events vs. Socials

Events and socials draw a significantly differing crowd. Attending an event does not necessarily mean that a member will then want to come to a social meet-up and vice versa. Holding events and socials on different days and at different times helps keep the two distinct, so that members only need attend the things they want to.

Best New Society Controversy

Warwick Humanists?

Contact

www.warwickatheists.co.uk

su468@sunion.warwick.ac.uk