Theories in faith: Discussion group involves politics, theology, philosophy

At least a dozen people gather in Grace Cafe every Wednesday evening. They're not there for the drinks, the treats or the ambience as much as they are for the intriguing discussion. It's the First Baptist Church College and Young Adult Ministry's young adult discussion group.

The group is led by Tyler Tankersley, a Southeast Missouri State University student.

"At First Baptist Church, we had tried multiple different ministries to reach college students and young adults," Tankersley said. "We played the normal church games and jumped through traditional religious hoops."

Soon he and his cohorts realized their mission was failing.

"We started to realize that college students and young adults wanted two things -- they wanted to hear differing points of view and they wanted to discuss their own points of view."

In July, Tankersley sent out several e-mails and told people they were starting a discussion group, called Socrates Cafe, that would involve politics, theology and philosophy.

Generally the group is aimed toward college students seeking a "real faith." The group's philosophy is that faith is not worth the effort unless the heart is fully in it, and the way to put the heart fully into faith is to address questions about faith head-on.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.com Becky Swoboda, of Cape Girardeau, left foreground, and Steven Berrey, of Desloge, read a passage in the bible at a bible study at Grace Cafe in Cape Girardeau Wednesday.

He plans the discussions, sending out e-mails to notify regular attendees what he plans to throw out there. Past topics have included the world food crisis, the emergent church, nuclear disarmament, Calvinism, Martin Buber, the end times and general Bible discussions.

Although the discussions are somewhat planned, they usually venture off topic.

"All of these issues are related," Tankersley said. "My goal is that I want to shake people's faith to the core. I want to remind them that Jesus did not come so they could live in a safe house, with a cushy job, flashy car and perfect family in a wonderful neighborhood that never features minorities, homosexuals or the impoverished."

Occasionally random people have shown up at the meetings. Once there was a woman in her 50s whose interest was piqued by the sign in Grace Cafe.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.com A group meets to study the Bible and drink coffee at Grace Cafe every Wednesday night.

"It was wonderful because we were discussing the philosopher Georg Hegel," Tankersley said. "She had no idea who Hegel was, but she had great insight and wonderful commentary on Hegelian philosophies."

"We all are theologians," he said. "We all have a belief -- or lack thereof -- of who or what God is."

They recruit to their meetings by e-mail reminders and the occasional radio ad, but the biggest draw is word-of-mouth.

Their upcoming discussion topics include human trafficking, the death penalty, creationism/evolution, women in ministry and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Socrates Cafe meets at Grace Cafe at 7 p.m. every Wednesday. For more information, contact Tyler Tankersley at ttankersley@fbccape.com.