disavow my faith
as I will not relate
to those claiming love
while spewing scripted hate

a lifetime seeking
divine intervention
point out your intention
finding only convention
rife with pretention
surpress contention
bloody invention
social dissention
completely devoid of comprehension

who is really ever changed?
who is really saved?
should I believe a fairy tale
where roads are all gold paved?

I see no change
in those who claim your name
harvesting their sanctimony
while inside they stay the same

the toll to take the narrow path?
reason must submerge
miserable lives of nothingness
as mind and soul diverge

you made me to be something
if you, indeed, made me at all
and I’m not merely happenstance
of some exploding ball

and are you god or are you man
it matters so to me
if god I’d say you stacked the deck
if man – you’re just like me

I feel the purity of my soul
regardless of my sin
and know it for divinity
the sum of me within

potentiation can’t occur
in the cage of your religion
is the Bible really true?
if so….then which edition?

we are told we must believe
you lack self-contradiction
that you are all of truth and light
but leave us in suspension

I’ve never seen a miracle
accomplished in your name
I’ve never seen a dead man rise
or laps run by the lame

just deluded lunatics
with seemingly good intentions
pushing their agenda
with prayerful condescension

I think your message went awry
it’s the nature of the beast
twist truth into nothingness
force fed and then policed

the only truth I recognize?
I know you lived…and how you died
and why

shall I accept your sacrifice
trust you didn’t load the dice?
I know how much you suffered
but then, so have I

for much longer than three days

my life sacrificed to these holy lies
despised, disdained and compromised
bent ’til I’m broken – immobilized
just as your counselors so wisely advised

all the many times I’ve prayed
crying out your holy name
begging for relief in vain
…you never came

I finally found my own way out
eviscerated fear and doubt
reclaimed my right to be myself
religion?  I will do without.

if, in truth, you shine with grace
and love to pardon error
if you, God, are omnipotent
why then aren’t you fairer?

there is no way to justify
demanding faith unfounded
for antiquity you manifest

but us you leave confounded

for mind and soul to reconcile
you’re X in the equation
you’re painted shades of anything
by masters of persuasion

I go to seek my own truth now
I hope you understand
I have to leave your blood-soaked flock
it’s gotten out of hand

I will shine my own light now
for all the world to see
and greet all of creation
with love and harmony

forgive me
I must find beauty
and meaning
in this life