The second annual Veritas Forum launched in New York City February 6-10. The Forum provides a venue to challenge the university community to wrestle with the toughest questions of the university, society and the human heart in the light of the truth claims of Jesus Christ.
More than 3,000 people attended the Forum over eight evenings on the two campuses. The theme for this year’s Forum was “Exploring True Life, Responding to Suffering.” Speakers and panels looked at questions ranging from a philosophical basis for responding to suffering, to what kinds of suffering garner media attention and why, to contrasting strategies and approaches for combating poverty.
At Columbia, over 800 turned out to hear Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, interact with theologian Vinoth Ramachandra and Larry Reed, Managing Director of Opportunity International, a nonprofit specializing in microfinance around the world. Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times headlined Tuesday evening, engaging in dialogue with British journalist Benedict Rogers about the media’s responsibility and opportunities.
Both campuses closed with a benefit concert by indie rock group Cinematic Underground. These concerts raised thousands of dollars to benefit Kisatu, a village in Uganda.
The Forum at NYU opened with an address by Kim Phuc, who survived a napalm attack on her village as a child and currently serves as Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO. Her story gave a compelling and powerful challenge about why forgiveness is important to healing. Many students responded afterwards with appreciation for the message and the important topic, which has largely been absent from their college curriculum.
Indeed, many questions of a spiritual nature were brought into the campus discourse over the course of the week. One forum featured theologian Vinoth Ramachandra and Columbia Professor of Philosophy Philip Kitcher. Dr. Ramachandra pointed out the unique contribution of Christ-following individuals in valuing people as people, rather than what they could contribute to society. Dr. Kitcher agreed that this was a uniquely Christian contribution, but protested the idea of a “divine spark” residing in people. He claimed that people should be valued solely because they were people. Many students left the Forum with questions about trying to build such a framework outside the bounds of Christian theism.
Such conversations will continue in the weeks ahead. Opportunities to continue dialogue include a variety of dialogue groups as well as involvement with agencies which tutor at-risk youth or provide services to those who are homeless. More than 200 students signed up to pursue such opportunities.
For more information, see the website at www.veritas.org/columbia and www.veritas.org/nyu, or the front page article in the Columbia Spectator.
Photo courtesy of Francis Hsueh
