Heaven, Earth and Politics
Guy T. Sturino
October 06, 2005
A belief in a god, whether it was Apollo, Ra, the God of Abraham, or simply the Great Spirit, has been part of humanity for all of recorded history. Every culture has developed a religion of some sort based on the existence of a supernatural power. In each case, the premise of the existence of the god of the time was not to be challenged. Of course it was always challenged by a few ‘unenlightened’ people who were almost certainly ridiculed, often became objects of hatred and sometimes even human sacrifices to the god of the time.
Nothing is different today. To speak openly of a belief that mankind must prevail on its own, without the help of some deity, that it must solve its own problems and deal with its own mistakes, will certainly be met by a chorus of ridicule. That said, and with eyes wide open, I will say:
Before I reached the age of seven, I was told God lived in heaven.
Someone whom I could not see was always watching over me.
He could see me in the dark. He watched while I played at the park.
If I was good, I’d get to heaven. I learned all this -- then I was seven.
But there was more I’d learned by then -- I knew about the boogeymen.
And other things that gave me pause, like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.
Then as I grew and went to school my friends and I learned what was true.
Boogeymen, Santa and the Bunny were simply lies, but they were funny.
When we discovered we’d been had, we laughed, and no one thought it bad.
But no one ever dared suggest -- that God was just another jest.
We knew we should not call it funny – folks go to church and pray for money.
Prayers by farmers for the rain could not be said to be in vain.
And surly our great heads of state -- who tell us that god guides their fate
cannot be said to be unwise. So we don’t speak, just sympathize.
But all the while we’re being civil, constantly we’re handed drivel.
How gods’ word is better than the guidance of an honest man.
There may really be a Heaven, as I learned before I was seven.
But, I don’t know just what it’s worth -- if we must live this Hell on earth.
All around us today, the religious of all faiths try to tell us what to do about everything, based on words written two thousand years ago. As a well-known Colonel Potter used to say, “That’s just plain Horse Hockey.” Those who are enamored of the words of the past and who pray for better times should do it in the privacy of their own home, as they were told to do by Christ as related by Matthew, Chapter 6, verse 5 & 6.
If we continue to elect leaders who continually tell us to look to heaven while they pick our pockets we are certainly lost. If the common man is to survive the two hundred year onslaught of rampant capitalist greed, we will need leaders who believe in themselves, leaders who believe in the need for global peace, leaders who believe in the need to insure the basic needs of existence for all people.
Men and women whose feet are firmly planted on the ground, whose desire to improve the human existence is sincere, and require any Divine guidance to be substantiated by the facts at hand, are out there -- waiting to be chosen by an informed electorate. Our fate is in our own hands.
Nothing is different today. To speak openly of a belief that mankind must prevail on its own, without the help of some deity, that it must solve its own problems and deal with its own mistakes, will certainly be met by a chorus of ridicule. That said, and with eyes wide open, I will say:
Before I reached the age of seven, I was told God lived in heaven.
Someone whom I could not see was always watching over me.
He could see me in the dark. He watched while I played at the park.
If I was good, I’d get to heaven. I learned all this -- then I was seven.
But there was more I’d learned by then -- I knew about the boogeymen.
And other things that gave me pause, like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.
Then as I grew and went to school my friends and I learned what was true.
Boogeymen, Santa and the Bunny were simply lies, but they were funny.
When we discovered we’d been had, we laughed, and no one thought it bad.
But no one ever dared suggest -- that God was just another jest.
We knew we should not call it funny – folks go to church and pray for money.
Prayers by farmers for the rain could not be said to be in vain.
And surly our great heads of state -- who tell us that god guides their fate
cannot be said to be unwise. So we don’t speak, just sympathize.
But all the while we’re being civil, constantly we’re handed drivel.
How gods’ word is better than the guidance of an honest man.
There may really be a Heaven, as I learned before I was seven.
But, I don’t know just what it’s worth -- if we must live this Hell on earth.
All around us today, the religious of all faiths try to tell us what to do about everything, based on words written two thousand years ago. As a well-known Colonel Potter used to say, “That’s just plain Horse Hockey.” Those who are enamored of the words of the past and who pray for better times should do it in the privacy of their own home, as they were told to do by Christ as related by Matthew, Chapter 6, verse 5 & 6.
If we continue to elect leaders who continually tell us to look to heaven while they pick our pockets we are certainly lost. If the common man is to survive the two hundred year onslaught of rampant capitalist greed, we will need leaders who believe in themselves, leaders who believe in the need for global peace, leaders who believe in the need to insure the basic needs of existence for all people.
Men and women whose feet are firmly planted on the ground, whose desire to improve the human existence is sincere, and require any Divine guidance to be substantiated by the facts at hand, are out there -- waiting to be chosen by an informed electorate. Our fate is in our own hands.
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