Friday, February 19, 2010

THE SECULAR RIPOSTE



On occasion, I am the overjoyed (bah!) recipient of one of those pass-it-along letters bemoaning the fact that prayer is not allowed in our school system. Since I am sure that letter will still show up in my mailbox at some point, and I, to date, have seen no reply of note to that letter, here is my reply.



I.



Some say that no prayer in school

is an ill begotten, odious rule

They protest this rule like stubborn mules

Since those who decreed this must be fools!

So I studied the tomes of history

(no revisionist crap, with its perfidy)

I wanted for myself to see

If it was fools that made the above decree



From times innumerable, again and again I saw

Masses of sheep cowed by Theocratic law

Was it the wrath of their God they were fearing?

(Or was organized religion social engineering?)

For the acolytes of faith were not God, but man

(who claimed to know the divine plan!)

“And only through me”, said they, “Would God you see!!”

(Why is it they seemed like con men to me?)



II.



Then in the 1000’s A.D.

The Pope at the time made an onerous decree

Head ye all south to the Jerusalem shrine!

To reclaim it for your God divine!

For the Caliph taunted the Pope to his face

Jerusalem is all ours, this holy place!

(Even a King would not dare wreak that disgrace!)

So came the Crusades to teach heretics their place

And the hypocrites received absolution from God

As they raped, pillaged, murdered, tortured and trod

Upon temple and Mosque, and Statue and Synod

(Such a shining example of government and God!)



Then the early 1200’s came to be

Another power-mad pope with an odious decree

Catharites and Templars committed HERESY!

(The truth: Church coffers were as barren as can be.)

After they slaughtered and excoriated the sinners

It was only the church that ended up winners

With the blood money they earned, they built learned spires

(Was this God’s, or man’s desire?)





III.



The 1500’s brought Protestant flames

Still Religion and Politics though, mixed up the same

The acolytes of power were responsible for this game

(Since we showed they were men, then man is to blame!)

The 1600’s brought learning, but man still had not learned

With the wars of religion, and witches to burn

Galileo was crucified on an Inquisitional Cross

Because the acolytes needed control of man through their god, regardless of loss!



Though explorers sailed the seas

The lands they found were for Christianity

Not at first were these lands for humanity

Which led to even more calamity

But the sanctified excesses of Organized Christianity

Pushed many an objector over the sea

And, while still, there were some calamities

For the first probable time, man was free.



IV.



Until, 100-odd years later, there arose a new state

Whose founders sought ills to ameliorate

After much contentious , spirited debate

These men did sunder church and state!

So, now let’s return to the present day

Where many are jealous of the USA

The Theocratic states are all in disarray

As their acolytes still murder and slay.

Because the founding fathers chose to delineate your rights

They debated and argued, day and night

And just in case they did not get it right

They allowed it to grow with futures light.





V.



So now we should allow prayer in our places of learning?

(They do in the Caliphate polyglot)

Because it will soothe our perpetual yearnings?

Or maybe bring peace? (Alas, it will not!)

You say there would be choice in what was preached

(But I have shown you how often that was breached!)

Government, onerous and massively grown

Has proved humans will grind their own

Because when you mesh a church and state

The non-conformists would be branded ingrates,

Heathens, heretics, or worthless liars..

Perfect for fanning a Pogrom’s fire!



Be thankful that it is this way,

Instead of a malignant theocrat holding sway

Such that I can ignore religious decay

While you wait in rapture for judgment day

We are free to worship in our hearts

With little fear of being sundered apart

So on reflection of that allegedly odious rule

I am glad there is no prayer in the schools!



A Jaded Bard