OLD MEN IN BLACK SKIRTS

An anti-religious poem

By ROBERT DAVIDSON

I saw a sign outside a church
Saying ..God forgives and so do we..
As pious preachers put themselves on par with God
And swathed in stark garments they frown
Telling me to witness -
Standing between me and God

The Church is the voice of God!
But impious Pius XII - Pilate-like refused to protest
Or intervene
And so such wholesale holocaust - diabolism
When the Deputy of Christ is mute

Man invents God -
Pays parson and priest to keep up imposture
With black robes flowing
To become witch-burners in Salem
Rigorous in righteousness, ravagers of reason
Savaronolas and Torqumadas - terrible in Holy Office

No inkpot could drive those devils off!

A protestant padre preaches love and peace
But catches his foot in the hem of his cassock
..Cause his words are at my throat like a pariah dog
I am told I must trust - justify by faith alone
Accept that God moves in most mysterious ways
And believe - I am too afraid not to believe!

In the God business they do God’s work with a gun ..
But no matter truth will out
The Devil’s in me, I’ll burn in front of Jesus

Fear of God - the beginning of wisdom?
I falter in faith -
Fear only fixes the fanaticism further!

Copyright  2006 robertdavidson

NOTES

Pope Pius XII 1876-1958 - failed to speak out against the Nazis in WWII.

Girolamo Savaronola !452-1498 - ruled Florence ruthlessly putting down all luxury and frivolity.

Tomaso Torqumada 1430-1498 - created the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Thousands of heretics were burned at the stake.

Martin Luther 1483-1546 - once threw his inkpot at the Devil