Atheists at OU is bringing a speaker from The Satanic Temple (TST) to campus to talk about the common misunderstandings of Satanism.

The event will be held on March 11 in the Gold Rooms of the Oakland Center and consist of an educational presentation by Lucien Greaves of TST and will be followed by a question and answer session for students.

“I met Lucien at a convention last summer and talked with him about how the Satanic Temple was so misunderstood, especially around Michigan,” Katarina Evan, president of Atheists at OU, said.

With the speaker and the Q&A session, Atheists at OU hopes to educate the student body at Oakland University on the truths of Satanism and to try to debunk the common misconceptions while also promoting religious or idealistic activism.

Atheists at OU has been on campus since 2012.  The group offers secular resources to students, a safe space for atheists or agnostics on campus and an open environment to discuss the various religions in the world.

“We strive to build a unified secular community on campus, but understand the most secular people are not in need of a group and often stay away from organized groups and events,” Evan said. “Even if a person doesn’t want to become a member, they are still welcome to come to events and drop in to talk.”

They promote themselves as a safe place for open discussion about religion, though the organization has faced discrimination from other students on campus.

“Recently, we’ve had our regular meeting posters posters torn down as well as our TST ones,” Evan said. “I walk all around campus to put these flyers up and I’ve been forced to continually print them out and repost them.  It’s frustrating.”

The organization also has noticed threats of protest and distasteful messages on the OU Yik Yak.  It has faced issues more directly when they table in the Oakland Center.

“When we table in the OC, there are people that stand there and argue with us or tell us that we’re insulting their religion when we host voluntary events like Ask an Atheist Day or Debaptism Day,” Evan said.

This event will be the biggest one of the year for the student organization. They will host a few tabling events for Ask an Atheist Day which gives students and faculty another opportunity to come up and ask questions.

The free event will kick off at 4:30 p.m. in the Gold Rooms and requires an Oakland University ID for entry. Food and drinks will be provided as well.

For more information on the group and their events, visit GrizzOrgs.

 

***According to their website, “The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will.”