The Adventist Church was the «secret» organizer

According to the posters, «Oslo Student Conference» had the theme «Life: Orientation in a disorientated world». What the posters failed to mention, was that it was the Student Society for Adventist Theology, in cooperation with the Adventist society, that were the organizers, and that Christian creationists would be giving lectures. The first part of the conference took place at the Faculty of Social Sciences (SV) last Thursday and Friday. Afterwards, the conference moved on to Ulsrud Adventist church. There, prayer was on the programme.

The wrong impression

On the conference’s website, you can find out who the organizers are and what the themes of the lectures at the conference were going to be. However, there are no references to this website on the flyers that were handed out on campus. Mathematics student Fredrik Heffer Valdmanis got interested in the conference after seeing a poster in the Vilhelm Bjerknes building.

– I am interested in religion, the philosophy of life, and other similar questions, but from an objective point of view. The poster gives the impression that this is exactly what the conference is about, the student states.

However, when he turned up at the conference, he quickly realized that this was not an entirely neutral event. The professor of medicine and the chemistry professor that had been advertised did not meet expectations.

– Both lecturers were Christian creationists. The lecturers were very subjective and, unsurprisingly, put the Adventists in a positive light.

Valdmanis emphasizes that he has nothing against religious events in general.

– Had it not been for the fact that they were dishonest on the poster, then I would not have reacted. It is quite fishy to market a religious conference in this way. People are being lured into attending under false pretences.

The church name was too long

The reason that the organizers were not mentioned on the flyers was lack of space, according to Adventist pastor Kenneth Berglund when Universitas spoke to him on Monday.

– It is quite a long and complicated name. We are working on finding a name that we can use more actively.

However, by Tuesday Bergland had changed his mind.

– It would perhaps be more accurate to say that it was a slip-up in this case.

In the application for borrowing the premises at the University of Oslo (UiO), the following was stated about the nature and goals of the event: «Lectures on various subjects, open for everyone».

Benjamin Samsing of the Student Society for Adventist Theology, which was stated to be the applicant when UiO approved their use of Auditorium 1 in the SV building, was not aware that the name of the organizers had not been printed on the posters. He maintains that this was a slip-up. Omitting to mention that half of the conference would be held in a church was, however, a conscious choice.

– We had agreed that we should only market the part of the conference that would be held at Blindern. On the poster, we wanted to include the aspects that would be relevant to the average student. This conference was meant for everyone, regardless of their outlook on life.

On the question of whether the angle of the lectures should have been made clearer on the poster, Samsing disagrees.

– The only thing that I see as wrong here is that the name of the organizer is not on the posters.