Faith

by Daniel Green

Best friends deplore my lack of faith
in god, the essence of their firm beliefs.
Persuaded so, they find comfort
in observances declared to be the mode
of proper worship and devotion.

Departing from the rest, my doubts confirmed,
explored religion's origins, and learned
that from savage starts to mosques,
cathedrals, and synagogues, injunction
reigns against incredulous.

Why live with fear that grounds in ignorance?
Assuage the threat of the unknown
with sacrifice of the innocents?
Why convform if rules requre
that questing minds desist
and genuflect to pieties?
Why live by rules ordained
when minds were closed?

Revert to times when wars were waged
with cross or crescent, symbols
to inspire men to glorify?
No wars more malign than those
most fiercely fought in name of god--
not yours, but mine! Slogan of the Holy Wars:
Have faith with me, you are my friend;
deny, and you must die, a heretic.

No god, if he were god, would be
so merciless. Man's sins, if nay,
are remnants of his brute beginnings.
Civility to be learned and earned
by his will alone. Heaven's help's a myth.

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