Beyond Religion

"Religion is the heart of a heartless world",
Marx said, resolving some confusion.
If we change society, transform the system,
we won't need those old illusions.

The Body of Christ will become wafer again
and His Blood will be drunk at our dinners;
Churches will relinquish their power and wealth
Babies will stop being sinners.

The imagined comfort offered by God
in times of distress and alarm
will be found in a more real, human way,
in the warmth of our neighbours' arms.

The eternal paradise promised by priests
will disappear from our sights.
But then, so will the daily Hell Upon Earth
as workers proclaim their rights.

So let us not wait for Noah and his ark
to rescue us from damnation;
We can collectively build a new kind of boat,
to sail beyond capitalism and its opium.

BY SUSAN AUSTIN

From Green Left Weekly, October 16, 2002.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 512