By Trevor Agatsuma

The Veritas Forum was started at Harvard by a group of students, faculty, and ministers as a response to the emptiness on campus. They believed that universities no longer address the most important questions of life, such as, “What does it mean to be human? Why is there evil and suffering? Is there any meaning in death?” In fact, an ongoing UCLA study shows that over 50% of entering freshmen hope to explore and define their beliefs during college. Yet the classroom rarely allows students to engage questions of meaning, purpose or faith. In ignoring such questions, universities fail to create a coherent worldview for their students, making it difficult for many to integrate their academic knowledge with their lives. Veritas steps into this void, creating a space where people of all religious and cultural backgrounds are welcomed to explore ideas. Veritas encourages students to pursue Truth, connect their academic and vocational life to Christ, and emerge with clarity and hopeful vision for our world.”

At NYU the spiritual interest is increasing amongst students.  Last year, even the New York Times reported on the “increasing religious life” on campuses across the nation.  The Veritas Forum is one of the ways in which the Christian community hopes to continually engage with the campus to respond to this increasing spiritual interest. This year, the theme of Veritas a NYU was an attempt to start conversations which would feed into this year’s theme of “A dialogue of Faith & Love in the Public Sphere.” In the days and weeks before the Forum we asked students to respond to questions about the brokenness of our systems with such questions as: Where has religion gone wrong? What causes poverty? What can you do to help improve the environment?

The first night featured an interview with Dr. Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer, a Manhattan church which has been named as one of the most influential congregations in the nation.  He spoke on issues he raised in his new book “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism,” which has broken into the top 50 in Amazon.com’s sales rankings.  Keller showed us that any belief we hold, whether atheism, agnosticism, or belief in God, is an act of faith.  He addressed the many barriers to the belief in the Christian faith and showed how he felt it was the most reasonable.

The second night featured an interview with Lisa Sharon Harper, who is currently the executive director of a new organization called New York Faith & Justice.   Lisa spoke of how the Christian faith in America had split into two different focuses: one which seeks healing only for the brokenness of individuals and one which addresses the brokenness of our systems and society.   She discussed how this compartmentalization of Christianity has damaged both the church and the image of Christianity to others.  She then shared how these two focuses are again coming together in today’s church.  She challenged the Christians in the audience to be a part of renewing the world around them and challenged others to consider the claims of Christ in light of His image being renewed and made whole.

The final night was in the format of a “coffee house,” during which students held meaningful discussions about these topics over coffee and donuts.  The hope is that students will continue to have these conversations even after Veritas, to engage the campus and address the most important questions in life.
which has broken into the top 50 in Amazon.com’s sales rankings.  Keller showed us that any belief we hold, whether atheism, agnosticism, or belief in God, is an act of faith.  He addressed the many barriers to the belief in the Christian faith and showed how he felt it was the most reasonable.

Our second night featured an interview with Lisa Sharon Harper, who is currently the executive director of a new organization called New York Faith & Justice.   Lisa spoke of how the Christian faith in America had split into two different focuses: one which seeks healing only for the brokenness of individuals and one which addresses the brokenness of our systems and society.   She discussed how this compartmentalization of Christianity has damaged both the church and the image of Christianity to others.  She then shared how these two focuses are again coming together in today’s church.  She challenged the Christians in the audience to be a part of renewing the world around them and challenged others to consider the claims of Christ in light of His image being renewed and made whole.

Our final night, students held meaningful discussions about these topics over coffee and donuts.  We hope that in the future, we can continue to have conversations to engage the campus to address the most important questions in life.

The second night featured an interview with Lisa Sharon Harper, who is currently the executive director of a new organization called New York Faith & Justice.   Lisa spoke of how the Christian faith in America had split into two different focuses: one which seeks healing only for the brokenness of individuals and one which addresses the brokenness of our systems and society.   She discussed how this compartmentalization of Christianity has damaged both the church and the image of Christianity to others.  She then shared how these two focuses are again coming together in today’s church.  She challenged the Christians in the audience to be a part of renewing the world around them and challenged others to consider the claims of Christ in light of His image being renewed and made whole.

The final night was in the format of a “coffee house,” during which students held meaningful discussions about these topics over coffee and donuts.  The hope is that students will continue to have these conversations even after Veritas, to engage the campus and address the most important questions in life.

More info: http://www.veritas.org