Give Blood on the Day of Reason May 4, 2011

Give Blood on the Day of Reason

By Guest Contributor
May 4, 2011

While certain Christians are praying the day away on Thursday during the National Day of Prayer, you can get off your knees and do something actually useful: Donate blood.

The NYC Atheists are meeting at the New York Blood Bank (310 East 67th Street — between 1st & 2nd Ave) at 4:00p to give a donation.

What are *you* doing to make the day worthwhile?


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  • Liz

    Donating blood with Seattle Atheists at the Puget Sound Blood Center in Bellevue!

  • Steve

    I have been a donor here in the UK for 30 years, A rhesus negative, I give three times a year, a good feeling. Hope all goes well.

  • R.T.

    I’m receiving blood today as part of my cancer treatment.

    Blood is one of the best things in a bag and your donation will make a huge difference in the sick and injured.

    I’ll be donating blood when I’m medically allowed too.

  • I love the idea of giving blood. I’ll do it!

    I wish “National Community Service Day” had taken off rather than the “National Day of Reason,” because this would focus people’s attention on *doing* something to better the world around them rather than just “reasoning.”

  • I would encourage everyone to check their organ donor status as well. Think of it as ‘green dying.’

    Oh, and if anyone wants to do some lobbying, gay men are very often barred from donating blood even if they are perfectly healthy.

  • Edmond

    Can’t. Gay.

  • Silent Service

    I’ve lived in so many mad cow countries that they won’t even look at me anymore. Of course they won’t look at me because my sexual history crosses several lines either. I used to give regularly despite passing out every time they stick the needle in but now I can’t. Fortunatly I’m O+ so my blood is common as dirt.

  • Damn, I just gave blood last week. It didn’t occur to me that I could use it as a way to show the pro-NDOP crowd what helping people looks like while they’re busy praying.

    I could have said something snarky about it like “One hand squeezing a stress ball every 5-10 seconds does more good than a thousand clasped in prayer.”

  • The Other Tom

    “While certain Christians are praying the day away on Thursday during the National Day of Prayer, you can get off your knees and do something actually useful: Donate blood.”

    No, I can’t donate blood, I’m gay. A perfect example of lack of reason in action.

  • BreadGod

    I’m too lazy to donate blood, so I’m going to spend the day listening to the most blasphemous metal albums in my collection.

  • I live in Alabama, but I wouldn’t be able to go anyway even if I lived in NYC. I already gave blood yesterday, so I can’t give again until late June 😀

  • Claudia

    I gave blood a couple of months ago, so I’m not allowed.

    The fact that gay people aren’t allowed to give blood in the US is outrageous. Does that include Lesbians, the single group with the lowest STI stats around? Thankfully, in Spain that crap has been done away with.

    For those who can’t give because they donated too recently, consider registering as a bone marrow donor. Bone marrow transplants have come a very long way, and now most often involve periferal blood collection (basically a long blood donation, no surgery). All it takes is a small blood sample and you’re all set, and you may well save a life.

  • KerryH

    As a 5 time/year atheist blood donor, I approve this message! 🙂

  • anon

    Blood fraction donations are needed too, and those can be given much more often. If you’re interested, check around to see if you can find a hemapheresis unit. I used to give platelets and white cells for leukemic kids. Unfortunately, the only game in town around here is the Red Cross, and the idiots in the local office don’t even know what hemapheresis is!

  • jen

    Conservative Christian here agreeing that the ban on gays donating blood is stupid. (I didn’t even know there was one — thanks for the enlightenment.) My blood counts are still pretty weird after having HELLP Syndrome 2 years ago so I can’t donate.

    I live in northern California so we don’t have NDOP that I know of. (It exists here in some places but is pretty benign.) I’ll see if I can’t do something like feed the homeless.

  • Digitus Impudicus

    I am not allowed to donate blood. Anyone have any ideas for a similar helpful act that someone disqualified as a donor can do?

  • Claudia

    I am not allowed to donate blood. Anyone have any ideas for a similar helpful act that someone disqualified as a donor can do?

    – Go to your supermarket and get some bags of canned meat, vegetables, fruit juice etc. and donate to your local food bank. Better yet, call them beforehand to ask what they could use.

    – Give a donation to a worthy charity. My personal favority is MSF but any good charity will do.

    – Call your local animal shelter and ask them what kind of resources they could use. Try to find something that you can help them with.

  • gloomcookie613

    Sadly, I can’t give blood. Damn my bisexuality and having the nerve, the NERVE!, to date a bisexual man or two in the past!

    *sigh*

  • pjb863

    AB negative, HIV negative. Still can’t donate because I’m gay. Screw ’em.

  • I’m in Taiwan and don’t have my resident card yet so I can’t give blood. Instead I’m collecting some toys and books to help a local dog charity (http://www.taichungpaws.org) set up a children’s education centre. There’s a lot of fear/dislike/misunderstanding of dogs in this culture and we’re trying to combat it from an early age. At the moment the usual story is someone gets growled at by a stray as a kid, grows up terrified of dogs, teaches their kids that dogs are evil and the cycle continues.

    FWIW it’s odd being an atheist here. It’s very much acceptable but whenever the subject has been broached and I mention that I don’t believe in any deities the immediate question is “But why???”. I’m automatically expected to be Christian because I’m western but the pleasing things is that after an explanation there’s no problem – it’s simply something that hasn’t occurred to people before. My boss said “But don’t you think it would make you feel better if you believed in something?” and I must admit I loved the simplicity and honesty of his sentiment but he was happy with my explanation of why I believe that way of thinking is wrong.

  • Anthony Okafor

    I’ll join the NYC atheists tomorrow and I’ll be rocking my atheist gear 😀

  • If you’re in Austin, you’re invited to join us state/church separationists on the sidewalk at the front gate of the Texas State Capitol Building. We’ll be picketing the National Day of Prayer event scheduled there tomorrow at 11am, AND promoting the National Day of Prayer. AND we’ll be promoting blood donation. AND we’ll be promoting the little charity group we started a while back, Atheists Helping the Homeless. http://www.AtheistsHelpingtheHomeless.org

  • randyman72

    If anyone lives in or around N.E. Ohio, come out and join us at ten this morning at Public Square in downtown Cleveland. Myself,and a few other members of The Cleveland Freethinkers will be holding a counterpoint gathering in response to the National Day of Prayer gathering, which will be happening at the Public Square, beginnning at 8 a.m.

  • Can’t. Bisexual and dating a guy, plus that whole weird Mad Cow Disease scare in Germany back when I was 4.

  • Amoeba

    Christians give blood