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by Andrew Cederdahl

Columbia, SC. Things got a little heated this past February 12th (Darwin Day) at the University of South Carolina. Only an hour and a half away from Bob Jones University, what is lauded as the “world’s largest fundamental Christian school” from the University’s website, a crowd gathered to witness an almost alien sight – one of America’s leading atheists denying the existence of the Biblical God.

Almost one year ago, the Pastafarians at USC (University of South Carolina’s secular student group) began planning for a classic debate – Does God Exist? With the crucial assistance of Secular Student Alliance and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, secular ideas officially made their way to the epicenter of the Bible belt.

Hours before the doors were set to open, people had already traveled in and were waiting in line. The doors to the venue in the Russell House Ballroom, located in the heart of campus, had to be opened early to avoid crowd control issues. Eventually, as time went by, every single seat out of around 520 available was taken. At one point, a man who had flown in from Ohio was escorted into the venue. He had traveled hours to see this debate and for decency’s sake he could not be ignored. Unfortunately, because of fire codes, scores of people had to be turned away for arriving too late.

After a brief speech by Pastafarians at USC president Andrew Cederdahl on the importance of critical thinking, Dan Barker took the stage at 7:00 PM to face his opponent Kyle Butt of Apologetics Press. Cameras were rolling and streaming content live on the internet to thousands of viewers as Dr. Rev. Neal Jones, president of the local Columbia Chapter of AU and litigant in the successful suit to halt production of the SC “I Believe” license plates, introduced the contestants.

Barker immediately set the tone for the night, aiming to disprove the specific God of the Bible with Biblical contradictions and logical proofs. He sought to make God a “married-bachelor” by utilizing Biblical inconsistencies of the omnipotent and omniscient Christian God. Butt, an experienced speaker and apologist, strongly and emotionally defended the God of the Bible, making the argument that without God, no objective morals could exist, while also utilizing the teleological argument several times throughout the debate. Overall, the discussion was healthy and much needed.

After the debate, Barker participated in a book signing for his new work “Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists .” Judging from makeup of the audience, the vast majority of which traveled in with Christian groups, the book signing was not expected to be very well supported. Yet, surprisingly, every single book was sold that night, a testament to the fact that secular ideas will continue to grow and spread – even in South Carolina and the Bible belt, where they are needed most.

Andrew Cederdahl is a second year political science student at the University of South Carolina. He is the co-founder and president of Pastafarians at USC. He is also Director of Conferences for the Gamecock Leadership Society and was recently elected to student government, where he will serve as a Senator in the College of Arts and Sciences after inauguration.