Is A-Soc just for atheists?
No, anyone is welcome including those who are religious. The society is open to anyone who wishes to engage in secular discussion and to learn about the beliefs of atheists and rationalists. Our membership base includes Christians, Muslims and others.
Is Atheist Society anti-religious?
No.
There is a lot of good in religion. We’re not going to hide away from the fact there is also a lot of negative in religion also though. We push for interfaith communication more than any other society on campus and believe it is important to have dialog between faith and non-faith groups. At the same time we also stand up for what we believe in.
Is the society only for students?
No, we have an open membership policy. Many of our members are not students but University of Leeds staff members, graduates and even members of the wider general public. Indeed we always have at least one non-student at each meeting.
Isn’t your society pointless?
No.
The student community has a large atheist and on the whole secular student body and currently (or at least until the society was founded) there was nobody to represent them. While Atheism is a lack of a belief rather than a belief, secularism and rationalism are positive beliefs that we would like to promote and share.
What is Leeds Atheist Soc?
Atheist Soc is a society for atheists, Humanists, rationalists and secularists. We are a student society based at Leeds University Union though we have a completely open membership policy – anyone can join the society.
What is Unbaptism? Why do you run it?
Unbaptism is a part of the National Secular Society’s Debaptism campaign. We run it every so often and allow people to get Unbaptised.
While this may at first seem like a cheap shot at religion there is an important message behind it. The Church of England base their membership figures on how many people are baptised so by removing yourself from the bapitism register you are helping to show the true proportion of Christians in the United Kingdom.
Why is it called Atheist Soc?
There was much debate when setting up the society and indeed the topic is often raised again regularly as to what we should actually call ourselves.
However in the end we decided on the term atheist as it is the most universal and umbrella term for all the people who would be interested in the society, we cater for all free thinking groups Humanists, Secularist, Skeptics etc.
It is also the most well known term, so people will get a rough understanding of what the society is about, without us having to explain.