Although the modern work environment may discourage controversial topics of conversation, two Fairfield faculty members made it clear Monday night that religion is still up for debate.
Fairfield’s Debate Society invited Rev. Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. and Dr. Ronald Salafia to discuss reason and faith in the 21st century, focusing on the differing views of a Jesuit and an atheist.
“I was very intrigued by the topic and I thought it was a topic that didn’t have a definitive answer. Knowing that we’d have some interesting points from each side, we decided to go with [Fitzgerald and Salafia],” said President of the Debate Society Matthew Rotondaro ‘16.
Fitzgerald and Salafia discussed the topics of rationality, love and empirical evidence of the divine in front of about 40 faculty, staff and students in the School of Nursing auditorium.
“I generally have come to a point in my life to find faith as a real annoyance,” said Salafia. “I have trouble believing in a god who sits around for 14 million years and decides it’s time to create these humans.”
For the past five years, Fitzgerald has served as the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Religious Studies. While he has only been at Fairfield for about a tenth of the time of Salafia, Fitzgerald is convinced there is a god based in love.
“Religion is about knowing in a deep way,” said Fitzgerald. “Human beings can self-reflect and swim in confusion and suffering. We are all offered the opportunity of choosing love. Love is stronger than death. Beyond death we have no knowledge.”
Eventually winding down in a discourse over morality versus science, the Debate Society ultimately declared the event a success.
“We’re just trying to get people interested in the debate team. We want to try to line more with the academic side of school. As of right now, it’s just being viewed as a club. We think it’s a lot more,” said Vladimir Ivanov ‘14, a Debate Society member, adding the Debate Society is “not just strictly politics.”
The Fairfield University Debate Society plans on having many more faculty debates like this one in the near future to draw even more awareness toward the club. While there were some students in attendance at this debate, faculty and staff took up most of the seats. There were roughly 35 people there in total.
“We thought that [reason and faith] was a relevant topic,” said Rotondaro. “In the future, we might have a politics professor and an English professor. They might debate a topic within their realm of academic expertise. We really want to choose topics that are relevant depending on the faculty.”
Just 15 years ago, the Debate Society was very successful and has some trophies in Canisius Hall to show for it. However, since then, the club has decreased in popularity and had just one member a couple of years ago. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in debate and there are many active members now.
“In fact, we went to our first intercollegiate debate in five years at Fordham University a couple of weeks ago,” said Rotondaro. “ Although we have recently gone through a period of stagnation, our current members, officers and advisors (Dr. Maggie Wills and Dr. Paul Caster) have ensured for a very active and successful future for the Fairfield Debate Society.”
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