I entered the GSSM lobby Sunday afternoon with the intention of studying for the upcoming Chem 1 test. An animated conversation caught my attention, however, and I dropped my books in order to join it. They were talking about God.

Depending on the source, the discussion started either from a) a "Vote Against Video Poker" sign or b) from the RAs in the Coker Dining Hall. Some common topics in the discussion included proofs of God, the reason of creation, evolution, life after death, and the faiths of the Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Baha’i, and Hebrew. Strangely, Jesus Christ and the Bible did not come up very much.

The average group of people talking about God included an atheist, a Christian, two people that had no religious affiliation but had definite opinions, two people that just listened, and one person that talked a lot but did not seem to have any opinions. That common combination led to involving, frustrating, sometimes enlightening, and rather comedic debates. It lasted approximately four hours, with lingering references to the meaning of life remaining throughout the day. Other conversations expire quickly; why was this one so loathe to die?

It is likely that God-related conversations carry more weight than others do because everyone wants to know about "Life, the Universe, and Everything" (as quoted from a novel by Douglas Adams). In fact, I have yet to meet one sober person that admits to not caring at all about God and religion; practically everyone either embraces a religion, is a strong atheist, has an opinion that they created themselves, does not have an opinion but wishes they did, is looking for an opinion, or just likes to speculate about it. It is one topic that is common to everyone in the world.

The fact that everyone thinks about it in some fashion insinuates that there is an answer to "Life, the Universe, and Everything." (Douglas Adams wrote that the answer was "16," but apparently that hasn’t caught on.) There is no consensus, among G-students at least, as to whether that answer lies in religion or not. Some different theories on The Answer that came up on Sunday included 1) the answer is that there is no answer and there is no point to anything whatsoever, 2) religion holds the answer but we are not able to understand it yet, 3) religion holds the answer and "my religion" has it, 4) all the religions have it, 5) who cares, we’ll know when we die, 6) who cares, we’ll never know, 7) your own individual answer is different from everyone else’s.

The main reason that I wrote this article, besides to sum up our collective Sunday afternoon experience, is to thank my friends and classmates for participating so energetically in the meaning-of-life-purpose-of-religion-reason-behind-everything discussions. I am thankful because I consider those discussions to be the best kind; other conversations (such as movie talk, gossip, or schoolwork complaint sessions) seldom benefit us. Sure, they offer us human interaction, but that’s just about it. Talking about God, on the other hand, almost always gives us new Divine perspectives to consider. These discoveries lead to exploration. And this can lead us closer to "Life, the Universe, and Everything."

So, thanks.