The Only Chance We've Got.

When you think about religion
It's enough to make you sick.
Blind Freddie has sufficient sight to see
It's full of mind-boggling hypocrisy.

Who hasn't heard the rant and cant
veiling cruel actions and unloving hearts.
"In God's name this. In God's name that."
Blind Freddie can also smell a rat.

There are the diamond shark smiles,
the "God wants me to be rich" brigade,
the sickening show of "humility"
masking a sense of superiority.

Paedophiles lurk behind the smock
and men in gorgeous coloured robes
deceive themselves that church reputation
Far exceeds any moral obligation.

There is blood in Rome, death in Salem
and burning in Calvin's "city of God."
History shows that this sorry mob
should never have any political job.

It's a pretty sad mess, that's for sure,
enough to make you cynical,
but when I think of the Nazarene
I don't feel in the least equivocal.

I'm not talking about that image
with shampooed hair and dreamy eyes
nor all those artistic marble statues
in wealthy institutions built on lies.

I'm thinking of the flesh and blood man
who was a friend to outcasts and poor,
who challenged the rules and status quo,
who gave until he could give no more.

He dined with harlots and publicans,
he touched lepers, the sick and the sad
but those who held the keys to wealth
ridiculed him and declared him mad.

He doesn't seem mad to me.
He had  a kind of moral divinity,
was a great poet and a teacher too
but I most admire his brave humanity.

I'm praying that he comes back.
I've read that he'll fix what we cannot,
the violence, inequity and oppression.
I'm thinking he's the only chance we've got.