Poem: "No Authority at All"
Mar. 1st, 2020 07:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is from the February 4, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Monkshood - Beware for a Deadly Foe Is Near" square in my 2-1-20 card for the Valentines Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by zianuray. It belongs to the Monster House series.
"No Authority at All"
The doorbell rings,
and I have my hands full
of soapy dishes in the sink,
so I don't get to it in time.
My gay nephew, who hasn't
learned to check first, opens
the door for the evangelists.
His boyfriend drops the book
and sidles up behind him.
They almost make a wall.
The evangelists begin
their bluster anyway.
"Go away," I say,
wiping soapsuds off
my hands. "We don't
want your hate here."
"If the Church has
not the authority to tell
its members that they
may not engage in
homosexual practices,
then it has no authority at all,"
one of the evangelists drones.
"And if we accept the argument of
the hypocrites of homosexuality
that their sin is not a sin, we
have destroyed ourselves,"
the other one finishes.
"Your offer is acceptable."
The bogeyman shows them
his razor teeth, tucks a sprig
of monkshood in their pockets,
and then shuts the door
in their stunned faces.
"You just ... that was rude,"
my nephew says faintly.
"That was necessary,"
the bogeyman says,
"unless you wanted me
to eat them? They were
both very bad boys."
The boyfriend cracks up.
I don't think he realizes
that the bogeyman
was quite serious.
"This is a peephole,
and this is a curtain,"
I say. "Use one or both
before opening the door.
Sometimes we get nuts
in this neighborhood."
"When the devil is nicer
than the church folks,
then we've got a problem,"
my nephew says, frowning.
"He's not a devil --" I begin.
The boyfriend just laughs.
"Nah, it's okay," he says.
"I like it just fine here."
* * *
Notes:
"If the Church has no the authority to tell its members that they may not engage in homosexual practices, then it has no authority at all. And if we accept the argument of the hypocrites of homosexuality that their sin is not a sin, we have destroyed ourselves."
-- Orson Scott Card
wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Monkshood - Beware for a Deadly Foe Is Near" square in my 2-1-20 card for the Valentines Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by zianuray. It belongs to the Monster House series."No Authority at All"
The doorbell rings,
and I have my hands full
of soapy dishes in the sink,
so I don't get to it in time.
My gay nephew, who hasn't
learned to check first, opens
the door for the evangelists.
His boyfriend drops the book
and sidles up behind him.
They almost make a wall.
The evangelists begin
their bluster anyway.
"Go away," I say,
wiping soapsuds off
my hands. "We don't
want your hate here."
"If the Church has
not the authority to tell
its members that they
may not engage in
homosexual practices,
then it has no authority at all,"
one of the evangelists drones.
"And if we accept the argument of
the hypocrites of homosexuality
that their sin is not a sin, we
have destroyed ourselves,"
the other one finishes.
"Your offer is acceptable."
The bogeyman shows them
his razor teeth, tucks a sprig
of monkshood in their pockets,
and then shuts the door
in their stunned faces.
"You just ... that was rude,"
my nephew says faintly.
"That was necessary,"
the bogeyman says,
"unless you wanted me
to eat them? They were
both very bad boys."
The boyfriend cracks up.
I don't think he realizes
that the bogeyman
was quite serious.
"This is a peephole,
and this is a curtain,"
I say. "Use one or both
before opening the door.
Sometimes we get nuts
in this neighborhood."
"When the devil is nicer
than the church folks,
then we've got a problem,"
my nephew says, frowning.
"He's not a devil --" I begin.
The boyfriend just laughs.
"Nah, it's okay," he says.
"I like it just fine here."
* * *
Notes:
"If the Church has no the authority to tell its members that they may not engage in homosexual practices, then it has no authority at all. And if we accept the argument of the hypocrites of homosexuality that their sin is not a sin, we have destroyed ourselves."
-- Orson Scott Card
The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 01:36 am (UTC)Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 02:28 am (UTC)I feel that religions have a right to impose their rules on consenting adults who choose to belong to them, but not to abuse children in their care or to bother outsiders. Some religions explicitly believe they are supposed to force themselves on everyone else in the world, which is a very serious problem.
Even though America claims to have freedom of religion, it really doesn't. As Pagan clergy, I am free to hold a handfasting for any group of adults who wish to become a family -- but the law only recognizes a small subset of those (originally man/woman, now any two adults). The restriction to only two people is a tenet held by some denominations of Christianity and forced on everyone else, including Mormons, Muslims, and Pagans whose religions all permit various larger options and atheists who make their own choices.
As much as I love my traditions, I think that on the whole organized religion has done far more harm than good. The problem is, we can't get rid of it. People have tried. Even if you wipe out all the believers, it respawns from base content. You only lose the details. The awareness of higher powers is innate and they give people ideas. Some of those ideas are awful. So we're just stuck doing damage control and trying to spread traditions that don't suck.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 02:52 am (UTC)The thing that I can't seem to convince Dogma people about is that the Choice rule set works for THEM, too. It feels like they're AFRAID of having the freedom to choose.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 03:04 am (UTC)Obviously they haven't heard that's where the good jazz club is.. ;)
It's the same deal as, they cannot possibly conceive of a world in which they are neither the abusers, nor the abused. Dogma and hierarchy are welded at the hip... and if y'ain't the lead dawg, the view never changes.
So, yeah. They *are* afraid. Of being dumped to the bottom of the pecking order, and subject to the same lash they wielded on us. Nevermind we got a world to save and no time for their shit.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 03:11 am (UTC)I'll use the same argument that I did when a stranger tried to assign TO ME a belief regarding abortion: just because something is legal does not make it mandatory. Apparently, that just did not work, for reasons which escape any attempt to prezel-logic them.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 03:17 am (UTC)The devil waits for no one, and he's never made a single deal.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 11:24 am (UTC)Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 04:19 am (UTC)The only hope you have is the right to make your own choice.
If the government can FORBID you to have an abortion, it can FORCE you to have an abortion.
If the government can FORCE you to have a vaccine, it can FORBID you to have a vaccine.
Every weapon in your hand is also a weapon in your enemy's hand. You can use nothing that they cannot also use.
The moment you give up choice about what happens to your body, the government can do anything it wants to you. History indicates that the results of this are consistently ruinous.
Almost everyone wants things to go only one way, their way; but that is not how the precedent of law works. The only thing that protects you is freedom of choice. Lose that, lose everything.
This means that if we do not want our choices taken away from us, we must defend other people's right to make their choices, even if we do not agree with the choices that some people make. Because if the same choice is forced on everyone, and it turns out to be a bad choice, then we're all well and truly fucked.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 04:25 am (UTC)Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 05:58 am (UTC)It is very close to how psychopaths think they are the only real people.
The results are similar.
I agree it will be difficult or impossible to fix.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 06:07 am (UTC)Sigh.
I wish the world were a better place.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 07:46 am (UTC)Well, some of it is. "Do as I say or the spirit in the sky will torture you for eternity." How is that in any way sane? But it does explain why those kinds of religions have more cases of abuse, because their Dogma basically idolizes it. I mean look at Christianity, the whole thing is based on torture and cannibalism.
>> I wish the world were a better place.<<
I wish that too. We can't fix the whole world, but at least we can leave instructions for anyone interested.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 07:55 am (UTC)Sadly so.
>>So, yeah. They *are* afraid. Of being dumped to the bottom of the pecking order, and subject to the same lash they wielded on us. <<
I think it's a similar problem as: Straight men are afraid that gay men will treat them the way they treat women.
If they didn't abuse women, it wouldn't be so disturbing.
>> Nevermind we got a world to save and no time for their shit.<<
If I could, I'd shove 'em all in the hold and get on with fixing a ship. Pity it's not so simple on Spaceship Earth.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 03:35 am (UTC)Outsiders may think this is opressive "Don't let them opress you, you'd be so pretty in makeup!" but if it is your choice to follow that rule it can be relaxing. Less stuff to worry about, routines, and so on.
I know that my life choices won't work for everyone, and that just because I think I am right doesn't mean that I am.
At the same time, some people seem to get stuck in that "I'm trying to help you!" loop that I have seen justify everything from ignoring boundaries to genocide, and some extremist-like religions enkoy justifying this.
Hmm. I wonder if that could be applied to nonreligious institutions, like say how our culture treats the poor?
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 03:42 am (UTC)I'm not saying that it's oppressive for beleivers to express that belief. It's oppresive to force non-believers, including me, to follow the Mormon dress code.
Then again, the French laws that ban hair coverings in schools while allowing other religious clothing and jewelry, is equally oppressive and discriminatory.
I think it's mostly about the right to FORCE other people to comply, rather than any expression of faith, but that makes me cynical (and angry).
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 05:19 am (UTC)Given that most people don't want to go out naked or be around others they find threatening, I calculate that this has made a large net LOSS in freedom for Muslim women in France.
I also think that was the point, regardless of whatever horseshit they're saying.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 04:14 am (UTC)I agree.
>> For the former, there is one set of rules for everyone, and it MUST match their particular flavor of culture, religion, and tolerances. For Choice, the rules are also for everyone, but, they accept that not everyone has hte same culture, religion, or tolerance, so the rules are set up to protect the most people in a systematic, logical framework. Murder is wrong because it ruins more than one person's life (the victim and their family, for example). Lying in court is wrong because that ruins lives and makes the entire system untrustworthy. And so on.<<
>> The thing that I can't seem to convince Dogma people about is that the Choice rule set works for THEM, too.<<
It doesn't work for all of them. Some Dogma groups believe their Dogma is only for themselves, the Chosen Few, and so long as they don't hurt anyone else, that is fine.
Take the Druze. They don't try to convert people because it's a soup-only religion. I shit you not, they all have Choose Your Next Life and they all stick together. To them, the rest of humanity is kind of like pet rats: cute while they last, but they're going to die soon and you'll probably never see them again, so don't get too attached. And that's fine for them.
The problem is those Dogma folks who believe that they MUST convert everyone else, with as much force as necessary, or else displease their deity (who is usually a psycho). They believe in One True Right And Only Way, and everyone else is just ... cannon fodder or set dressing, depending on their Dogma. Certainly not people who matter.
There are people who believe that it is more moral and better for the world to murder gay people or rape victims than to let them live. There are people who believe women have no souls and black folks are inherently inferior. And they're not going to let facts get in the way.
>> It feels like they're AFRAID of having the freedom to choose.<<
This is often true. With choice comes responsibility, and that's scary.
Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 04:19 am (UTC)Re: The problem with organized religion
Date: 2020-03-02 05:00 am (UTC)