I am an atheist, but not a church-hater. I respect everyone’s individual right to believe what they want to believe, and I have a healthy respect for my many religious friends, but I find it hard to stomach when any institution attempts to sway public opinion using shameless rhetoric and the most unimaginable hypocrisy. Breda O’Brien, the Iona Institute and the prehistoric Catholic Ethos that they represent, are treading on dangerous ground by using “what’s good for the children” in an attempt to win any argument. Actions speak louder than words, and history speaks louder that anything. My response is thus:
I am the Voice.
I am the voice from the grave.
The voice of the innocent.
The voice of the child.
The voice of a shameful history.
The voice of those who have no voice.
I am the child, plucked from the mother’s breast.
Fatherless, motherless, orphaned by the state,
Orphaned by the church.
I am the child who saw no light, no life, no love, no Jesus.
The mother church that preaches love, loved not me.
The God of infinite mercy showed none to me.
The Bishops and the Priests who pray, prayed not for me.
With shovels crafted of guilt and shame, they dug my grave,
And with mud still fresh on their boots,
They preached the love of little children.
They christened me “unknown”.
And now, from hallowed corridors, their voices rise again,
In condemnation.
Custodians of morality, brandishing Bibles,
And banishing love and compassion, and nature and life.
And from my unmarked grave, I scream
“Hypocrits! Who pitied not the un-named child,
Now name him Cupid,
And fire poisoned arrows from his bow,
Into the love-filled hearts of loving men and loving women.
We are children, not fodder,
To be shot from the muzzles of your canon law!
You are not our voice, you are not our parents,
nor our guardians.
Do not persecute others, as you persecuted us……..
If You be there,
Lord God, Be True.
Let not your ministers pour hate upon
souls that you filled with abundant love.
Let not your church be sullied once more
By hypocrisy!
Then, might all the children sing,
“All you need is love, indeed.”
