Christian fellowship groups from the College and Harvard's graduate schools are working together to stage a spring conference about Christianity in the modern world.

But one of the University's leading religions figures, the Rev. Peter J. Gomes, Plummer professor of Christian morals and minister of Memorial Church, has not been invited to participate in the three-day long conference scheduled for early April.

The Veritas Forum was first staged at Harvard in 1986 as an academic conference in Christian apologetics. The event, held nearly every year, was a focal point of Kelly K. Monroe's 1996 bestseller Finding God At Harvard.

Organizers of this year's forum--the first in more than two years--say the conference's main purpose is to discuss Christianity from an intellectual perspective.

"A lot of the world says [Christians] are fools. The Veritas Forum is about saying what is the intellectual basis for the faith we have," says Jennifer L. Whiteside '01, a member of Christian Impact.

A Christian Conference Without Gomes

Three guests will speak about the academic principles behind Christianity: Alvin Plantinga, professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame; Peter Kreeft, a philosophy professor at Boston College; and David Barton, the founder of Wallbuilders, a Christian political organization.

In addition to academic discussions about religion, the forum will feature discussions on racial reconciliation, eating disorders and how to get into graduate school.