The Illini Secular Student Alliance, or ISSA, presented “Does the Black Community Need God? A Debate on Race, Faith and Culture” at Temple Hoyne Buell Hall on Thursday night.

Jamila Bey, the invited speaker representing secularism, was unable to make the debate due to a canceled flight. The other debater invited was Bishop Carlton Pearson.

Pearson is known for his music and preaching; he formed one of the largest churches in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pearson has appeared on 20/20, Nightline and CNN regarding his opinions about the existence of God and hell.

Since Bey was unable to make an appearance, the debate became more of a question-and-answer forum. Bey sent a list of questions to the debate coordinators that Wallace Southerland III, associate dean and director of the Office of Minority Students Affairs, read to Bishop Pearson.

Pearson said he thinks that the debate’s central question concerns all communities, not just the African American community. He emphasized that every community needs something to believe in.

“Does the black community need God? Not any more than the white community needs God or doesn’t need God. The Hispanic community, Native American community or the Asian community, too,” Pearson said. “Does the black church need community? Yes. Does it need faith? Yes. Does it have faith? Yes. Does every community have it? Yes. But faith in what? What kind of faith?”

The debate was conceived when some ISSA students attended the American Atheists Conference in Des Moines this past March. Bey, one of the speakers at that conference, talked about being an African American atheist and the challenges that came along with it.

“She spoke about being an atheist in the black community and how fundamental religion was to the heritage and how difficult it could be to separate the two,” said Rebecca Tippens, senior in LAS and vice president of the ISSA.

Sam Shore, University alumnus and ISSA member, said religion isn’t clear-cut, but people try to make it black and white.

“Faith is a really important issue in this country. You can’t be an atheist and get elected to a higher office in this country. People put value in faith, especially in the black community,” Shore said. “There are even high(er) levels of faith within the community than there are elsewhere and we thought it was an interesting question to ask.”