Japanese Flick Mixup Forces Change at Afterlife Symposium

What was scheduled last night to be a film and discussion on life after death turned into a discussion on life after death turned into a discussion on life after death when King's Fellowship (HRKF) President Robert G. Spinney found out that "the film we got was a very, very poorly made Japanese war movie."

The 60 would-be spectators, surprisingly cheerful for an event whose promotional flyer featured the word "death" typed several hundred times, insead participated in an hour-long debate about God and the afterlife.

Setting

Billed as "If I Should Die--Find Out What Happens after the Inevitable Happens," the event was intended to "increase awareness of what Jesus Christ has to say about the afterlife and why it's relevant to us today," Spinney said.

"This is the closest thing to a lion's den at Harvard," Spinney added, challenging the Phillips Brooks House audience to grill him on his Christian beliefs.

But the audience--almost all students and mostly HRKF members--was less than hostile, two students expressed skepticism, but Spinney had numerous allies.

Founded three years ago as an interdenominational Christian students organization, HRKF sponsors weekly Bible study groups, which address practical campus religious issues and monthly events, such as last night's intended film. Its purpose Spinney said yesterday, is to "bring the claims of Christ to the Harvard campus," and it has established a reputation as a outspoken almost evangelical group.