A smiling, outgoing man wearing plastic devil horns jokingly heckles the small audience in front of him.
He’s trying to get them to part with more of their money — for a good cause, he says. “Come on, guys,†he says, urging them to increase their bids in an auction for the rights to his own soul. “Satan says community service is good.†The man is Joey Ralph, Hutchinson sophomore and vice president of the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics. He’s hocking his soul — or rather, his commitment to serve 50 hours of community service with the group of the winning bidder’s choice — to raise money for the Douglas County AIDS Project. Joey Ralph, Hutchinson sophomore and vice president of Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics, cajoles bidders at SOMA’s Fifth Annual Soul Auction at the Hawks Nest on Thursday night as Nathan Maddox, graduate student from Belem, Brazil, and Clayton Perkins, Overland Park junior, look on. Participants auctioned off their time for community service and other services, with part of the proceeds benefiting the Douglas County AIDS Project. Photo by Ryan Waggoner The event, Ralph said, was part of the small but longstanding group’s recent and upcoming efforts to bolster its size and increase awareness of its message. “There’s a perception out there that people who don’t have religion don’t have very good morals,†Ralph said. “We’re trying to put out a good name out there for atheists and agnostics.â€
Paul Mirecki, associate professor of religious studies and SOMA’s faculty adviser, said the auction was the group’s “tongue-in-cheek†effort to poke fun at negative stereotypes of atheists and agnostics as “souless†people.