Religion and God are not the same thing. Just as well…
Religion has many, many faults.
And religions have even more.
They place man on a pedestal,
Then damn her for evermore.
Despite the universe’s witness,
That we perch on a tiny sphere,
They ignore the cosmic vastness,
As if creation HQ’d here.
They claim divine right to own God,
Interpreting their scriptures to suit,
Arrogant in their sacred rectitude,
Ever quick to condemn and refute.
Yet they fracture and split asunder:
Reformations, sects and schisms,
To argue, fight and kill whoever,
Oft colluding with narrow-minded isms.
When a man is eager to end his life,
By triggering a suicide bomber’s vest,
In pathetic sexpectation of a harem,
Then that creed has failed the test.
For those who claim to know Him,
Will stand to be judged – minutely,
While the humble and the agnostic,
Will be fast tracked to eternity.
If I affirm my faith in Almighty God,
Who transcends all time and space,
Yet can still count all my frail hairs,
In humility must I seek His face.
I must ask Him why his children suffer,
And, respectfully, many other why’s.
Then wait, wait, in silent reverence,
Patiently, for grace to make me wise.
And religion, that old churchy club,
Must ground its core in inclusive love,
Rejecting the factions and the Bull,
Ever discerning the mystery above.
For love, unconditional, affirming love,
Is the only force that can touch a heart,
And in terms of all creation being well,
Nothing else will do, nothing else will last.
Yes, religion has a place, if only for this:
To keep the rumour of God alive today.
To remind our world of a deeper truth:
Our place at table, where God holds sway.