The Bible gets used like a Swiss Army Knife
by sanctimonious cherubs thrashing about
with defective right wings.
Every time they decide to open
another vessel of anger, hate, or judgment
they turn to these writings
for a blade, a corkscrew, or pliers
to open it and allow the toxin therein
to contaminate the conversation.
They see God as a cantankerous old white man
who throws thunderbolts at kids who
get too close to His lawn.
Here’s the church, here’s the steeple.
Here’s God threatening to smite the people.
These same zealots say there is legitimate rape
that is a gift from Him
on this 5,000-year-old Earth.
Remember, you were put here to suffer.
Boy Scouts shall surely have a Heavenly Reward
but Satan walks door-to-door with those little girls
who sell lesbianism, communism, and abortion
at three-fifty a box.
The Raging Right says the God they created in their own image
loves you so much
that you’re going straight to Hell.
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for them to preach compassion and hope
instead of fire and damnation.
Inclusion instead of exclusion.
Resist the darkness and
let there be light.
Tom Russell works at the Omaha Public Library in the extremely red state of Nebraska. Extremely red. Extremely.
