The Radical Religious

The Radical Religious Like chickens they sit on a roost in the dark With their toes holding tight to the perch They feel safe in the night ‘gainst their neighbor beside If the neighbor not jiggle nor lurch They rise in the morn to the given command Of the roosters flap and crow It’s safe to come down to cackle and scratch There is someone to protect us below The farmer tells them it’s not safe outside For they’ll be molested or hurt They’re safe locked in their pen, never venturing out And their lives are spent scratching the dirt And so with the religious who need to be saved “Tell me everything that I must do” “Show me how I should pray, tell me what to believe, Show me how I should worship and who”. I shall bow to the east, bang my head on the wall Make the sign of the cross if I must I will cling to your dogma, live a god fearing life Please convince me it’s you I can trust Make my salvation easy, please do not make me think, I will bow, I will bend, I will pray I will give you my money, I’ll repent and confess I will come to your church every day I’ll do all the ablutions, read all of the psalms I’ll believe what you tell me and more If you can assure me that I will be saved I will check my brains at the door. They seek only the comp’ny of the similar kind Very smug in their faith where they’ll stay Never mixing with those of a different mind Or those who worship a different way Their tithes are prepayments for favors from god In the hope that he’ll know them some day When they step with great fear to the other side Crying “please let me in, I did pay” They sit in their temples, churches and mosques Knowing theirs is the only true way To each other’s dogmas their minds tightly blocked Saying “God hears only us when we pray” They force feed their children to think just the same To fuel the hatred and fan the flame Their preachers cry loud to a blood thirsty crowd “ Do crusade or jihad, in gods’ name” So certain they’re right that they’re willing to fight For they know all the rest are astray And they know it’s gods will that it’s alright to kill For they’re all going to hell anyway So the war rages on while all reason is gone Saying “my god is greater than thine We are the chosen and you are the lost So your rights are lesser than mine” Oh that one day they’ll find that we’re all the same kind It’s the hate in their hearts that must fall It’s not color or creed or the root of our seed We must learn to have more love for all War will only recede when each one will concede That he is just equal not best And then take the hand of their fellow man And say “Come brother, in peace let us rest”.