The crash of shattering glass startled students walking near the Science Center on Friday the 13th last fall.

But for the then one-year-old Harvard Secular Society (HSS), breaking mirrors and walking beneath ladders--in an elaborate "Vent by Smashing Superstition Bash"--was supposed to be no big deal.

"We wanted to poke fun at religion, superstition and supernaturalism," says HSS President Christopher M. Kirchhoff '01.

While societies to debate religion are nearly as old as debate itself, HSS attempts to bring a level of humor and irreverence to the age-old question of belief. But some claim the group's cheeky skepticism runs the risk of creating more alienation than insight.

The HSS brochure, for instance, is titled "Holy Shit," in large, bold letters. Inside the brochure is a satirical question/answer session with God. One question reads "Does God love me?"

The answer: "The Bible teaches us that God's love is boundless, unconditional and all-encompassing. The Bible also teaches us that God can be a vindictive SOB... So frankly I wouldn't believe too much what the Bible says."

Kirchhoff laughingly describes the brochure as " iconoclast humor." But it also prompted an evangelical Protestant like Matthew C. Stevens '01, a member of the group Christian Impact, to explore HSS a little further.

"At the introductory meeting last year, I was disappointed with the lack of integrity of the group. While peppering the meeting with belittling jokes...toward Christians, [the past HSS president]] still tried to maintain that he wanted to engage Christians in honest discussions about truth," Stevens says.