To believe or not to believe: This is the question a new student organization wants Iowa State to ponder.

Members of the group “Truth Bucket” believe there are good reasons to think Christianity is true and they want to discuss those reasons during the group’s weekly meetings.

“We’re going to show how we arrived at the truth of Christianity,” said Chris Tweedt, president of Truth Bucket and junior in philosophy and religious studies.

Tweedt said he and some of his Christian friends had been asked a lot of questions about their faith by friends, students in philosophy classes and members of their church.

It was this general interest in the intellectual issues surrounding the Christian faith, as well as a desire to put forth the case for Christianity that provided the motivation to form the group, Tweedt said.

“The Christian church today, it seems, isn’t able to answer the intellectual questions posed to it,” said Peter Swanson, a leader of Truth Bucket and sophomore in mechanical engineering.

Swanson and Brandon Wall, a leader of Truth Bucket and sophomore in philosophy and history, said there is a misunderstanding among Christians about the relationship of faith and reason.

“Christians today think if you reason about God, you’re taking away from the faith,” Wall said.

Swanson said God is revealed through creation and reason, and people forget God has given them the ability to reason.

“We believe that God has revealed himself not only through his word, but also his world,” Swanson said.

Despite the Christian convictions of the four student leaders, the group is not a typical Christian gathering. There is no prayer, worship, or offering — just a presentation of the arguments.

Tweedt said people from many belief systems have attended the meetings, and non-Christians are especially welcome to attend.

“I try to prove myself wrong all the time, and if someone else can do it, that’s great,” Tweedt said.

About 120 people were in attendance at last Wednesday’s meeting, which covered the topic “Worldviews: Which views of the world and God are inconsistent?”

Brandon Dahm, a leader of Truth Bucket and sophomore in philosophy, presented six views of reality that stand in contrast to the Christian view, then went through each position and argued they were false.

A question-and-answer period followed the presentation, which will be a regular feature of the group’s meetings.

Peter Erickson, freshman in religious studies, said he wasn’t able to classify his own religious beliefs but said he has been impressed thus far with the presentations. Erickson said he attends the meetings because he wants to hear a different perspective.

“The presenters themselves have been really good — they’ve responded to questions really well,” Erickson said.

In addition to being a campus organization, Truth Bucket is also affiliated with The Salt Company, the campus ministry of Cornerstone Church.

The leaders present their talks to Paul Sabino, director of The Salt Company, before they’re presented at the meetings.

By presenting the talks to Sabino, the group gets a trial run of the evening’s presentation that helps the speaker work out any unforeseen kinks and ensures the talk is at a comfortable intellectual level for a diverse audience, Swanson and Tweedt said.

As for the group’s bizarre name, “Peter randomly came up with the bucket part of it, and I said, ‘How about Truth Bucket, because we’re trying to find truth,'” Tweedt said.

Truth Bucket meets from 8 to 9:30 p.m. every Wednesday. Some meetings will be held in 101 Carver Hall, including this week’s, and some will be in 2050 Agronomy Hall. Swanson will present an argument for the existence of God.