Today, October 6, is the International Day of Prayer.  Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ) is celebrating the day by (you guessed it!) praying for 24 hours.  Christians certainly have every right to express their faith through prayer, and our group supports their freedom to do this.  However, in an affirmation of science and reason, we posted flyers about the event to encourage those who prefer action over prayer to join SAIU.

For more background on IDOP, here’s what one website has to say about it:

We believe that prayer changes things. Exactly what happens is a mystery of faith. God invites us to present to Him our requests and to pray without ceasing. Persecuted Christians often plead for prayer to help them endure. The most we can do is the least we can do — pray.

IDOP, as far as we can tell, doesn’t seem to be recognized officially by any governments, unlike the National Day of Prayer in the US, which has designated the first Thursday in May as a day when citizens are asked to come together and pray.  However, this celebration of IDOP by Cru seems to encourage our fellow students to wish for good things to happen, and to believe that wishing will have some tangible effect on the outcome of world events.  We hope that students at IU will stand together in action, affirming the belief that “Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.”

SAIU plans on having multiple events throughout the semester which focus on the idea that “you can be good without God.”  Service events in conjunction with Pages to Prisoners and Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard have been planned so that members can reach out to the Bloomington community.

If you would like to join us in our efforts, please click on the “New Members” link to be directed to information about joining our listserv and Facebook groups and finding out about events.  Atheists and non-religious folk have not historically been very community-focused, and SAIU is working to change that.  We hope that you will join us in reaching out to help those in need, showing our non-theistic compassion, and promoting a reason-based worldview.

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