Earlier this week, you probably got an email for an event ambiguously entitled “See You at the Pole.” While many students may have at first thought—or hoped?— that it was an announcement for a Residence Hall Association sponsored trip to Club Koyote, or perhaps a Student Activities Board sponsored amateur dance-off, it turned out to be something much less exciting: a group prayer session at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning, performed idolatrously around a flag pole.

Which is perfectly acceptable. This is America; people are allowed to worship how and where and when they want. But as an atheist, I was a bit confused. The advert stated that it was “an opportunity to… support your school, community, and leadership through prayer.” Support? Blood and food drives support communities. Waking up early on a Wednesday to stand around in a circle for a bit supports nothing other than a messed up sleep cycle, and sore feet.

The advert also said that attendees could “experience the power of prayer.” I don’t know what to make of this. William Gascoyne once said, “I’m not convinced that faith can move mountains, but I’ve seen what it can do to skyscrapers,” and I can’t help but think of it whenever I hear about the power of religion.

And then of course there’s the Biblical passage that the flier mentioned. 2 Kings 22:13. I’m not a Biblical scholar (as you have probably guessed by now…), but from my limited understanding of this passage, it seems to be about appeasing an angry god. Inspiring.

Spending a bit of time talking to the air won’t create any sort of positive change in the world. If everyone were the same religion, it could perhaps be a bit unifying; but even various Christian denominations can’t agree on what sort of things to pray about (believe it or not, it wasn’t us heretics that got prayer out of public school). Instead, in our diverse world, public displays of prayer are divisive, and serve to highlight the differences between … well, everyone.

Maybe someday there will be an event where all people can gather to really support the community. Maybe some event where members of different Greek organizations would sit next to each other in harmony and hand out cookies and juice. An event where people could easily contribute something essential to the community. An event where friendly competition would bring members of different residence halls together. I’d go on, but I think the event I’m talking about is bloody obvious.