National Day of Reason May 3, 2007

National Day of Reason

By Guest Contributor
May 3, 2007

Today‘s the day to take action instead of idly praying. Worthy actions include: Giving blood, signing up to be an organ donor, helping a stranger, or donating money to your favorite secular non-profit so they can continue the good work that they do!

(Please take action in that order, though.)

Maybe you were even more creative with how you spent the day?

If you have interested stories from today’s charitable festivities, feel free to share them in the comments!


[tags]atheist, atheism, National Day of Prayer, National Day of Reason, blood, donate, charity[/tags]

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  • TXatheist

    My blood donation time is set for 3 pm. I don’t drink coffee on my donation day to keep by blood pressure normal. I went to the bookstore last night to get Parenting Beyond Belief…backordered…could be 3 weeks but that’s ok. I picked up Infidel for now.

  • Richard Wade

    Kerry,
    I gave my blood donation this morning. I DID NOT announce, “Hey everybody, I’m an atheist and I’m donating my blood today to counter the National Day of Prayer ’cause I’m morally superior to those superstitious hypocrites who just pray.”

    No, I just quietly gave blood as I have far more times than I can remember, as one person giving to another. I was due for another donation, and I chose to give today to participate in a day where other people are doing what they consider a positive thing, but it’s just not something I do.

    I just wanted to let people know that some non believers can give of themselves on a day like this and still avoid the self-righteous childishness that others on both sides often fall into.

    To everyone I highly recommend donating blood if you qualify by your size and health. The bag of blood I donate is about the volume of my fist. It’s a part of my body. Imagine if you could painlessly donate one of your hands to someone who desperately needed one, and you could grow your own hand back in just a few minutes. Sorry if that’s too ghoulish a metaphor, but please consider giving blood.

  • Well said, Richard! Good for you! Your message reassures me of what I already know–that there are people of good will everywhere! Thanks!

  • Tim

    I believe that Christians should be taking part in this too. Not because we want to take over everything that is anti-Christian, but because there are so many Christians who feel that Praying is the only thing that can be done to help others.

    Like, with VA Tech happening and other horrific events, it seems that there are so many Christians offering Prayer (which is great, I believe, because I am a Christian) but not offering anything else. It’s like “Hey, Christians! We need someone to help us with blood donations, and building homes for those who’ve lost them. Helping Prostitutes get off the streets and Drug Addicts get some help. It’ll be a lot of work, but we can do it!”

    And then the Christian says…”Well, I’ll pray that you get it done in God’s Time!”

    Okay, that’s cool…but not what the Bible says to do! Anyway, what do you think about Christians taking part in this as well? Or something similar? We need to step it up (there are many Christians who do this already, but many that do not) and show the people we care about them! (After all…we say we do!)

    Sorry to make this into a little mini-post. You can edit it if you want. But I figured that there would be plenty of Christians seeing this, and thought it might be good to share with them my thoughts.

  • Richard Wade

    Tim,
    I think it would be great for Christians to take part. People who need blood don’t care about our beliefs, just that we’re healthy.
    Since atheists tend to focus on things in the here and now, I very much respect the Christians I know who help others with real world action like the things you described. I’m certainly not the one to say for sure, but perhaps prayer should be about focusing and clarifying your thoughts and feelings, but should never be seen as a sufficient response to the real needs of others.

    Please take part!

  • Tim

    I’m certainly not the one to say for sure, but perhaps prayer should be about focusing and clarifying your thoughts and feelings, but should never be seen as a sufficient response to the real needs of others.

    I don’t want to start a debate at all, but you are half right with your first statement, and Completely Correct With the second half of your statement! It should never be seen as that, it should be seen (as I see it) an excuse (unless the person really cannot help in anyway, in which prayer is the only way they could help).

    Thanks for the reply, Richard!

  • I posted about this on my blog…My husband and I wrote letters to the editor of our local paper, protesting the fact that groups were holding prayer meetings in the city hall for four days, (The group began reading the bible aloud from cover to cover in city hall on Monday.) and that the event itself is apparently Xian-based. His was published today and mine is supposed to be published in a day or two.

    He also took our son to the planetarium on a special preschool-sponsored field trip. After the astronomy presentation, they made marshmallow molecules.

    We would like to have picketed the NDP prayer meeting that was going to be held at noon today, led by city officials. Maybe next year we will check into city regulations and get a group together.

    I don’t really get the day of prayer or the day of reason. If you’re a theist, you probably pray often, every day. If you’re a rational person, you use reason often, every day. Setting aside a day for either just seems lame. So the day of prayer is really just an excuse for the Xians to try to breach the separation of church and state, and the purpose for the day of reason is to fight back.

  • Richard Wade

    Tim, thanks for your clarification. My best wishes in your work.

  • Jonas Green

    Is the National Day of Prayer also officially the National Day of Reason? I know some local mayors declare a Freethought Week in October, to remember of the end of the Salem Witch Trials, when Spectral Evidence was deemed no longer allowed valid. I knew about the Blood Drives by such groups as The Rational Response Squad. — I can’t give blood anymore, but thanks for the extra options.

  • Karen

    …My husband and I wrote letters to the editor of our local paper, protesting the fact that groups were holding prayer meetings in the city hall for four days, (The group began reading the bible aloud from cover to cover in city hall on Monday.)

    What the hell?!? What city is that? That’s really a terrible breach of separation of church and state. Yikes. I hope you can get a protest together next year. Have you thought of pre-emptively addressing the city council before they approve such activity?

  • Adam

    It seems that the myth of “separation of church and state” is still widely circulated. Surprising, considering that many books have been written on the subject. People that have been raised/indoctrinated with this myth may be shocked that it is in fact a myth. The Founding Fathers had no problem with religion, in fact many were Pastors, they were involved in Bible printing, Bible education, prayer DURING Congress, church attendance DURING Congress, etc. etc. They would be shocked that we claim a “separation” today! People are quick to quote a small handful of founders that made comments that sounded “anti-religious” People conveniently ignore the myriad of comments that are Pro-religious.