Do We Really Need Gods?

Do we really need Gods?
Or do we need something
That’s anything but?
Something that tells us
That all that exists
Is all that we see.
Why do we need
Something to believe?
Is it because
Our minds are so weak
That we can’t just conceive
This is all there can be?
Since before we found fire
We have needed our gods
To make sense of a life
That was scary and odd.
We needed old sots
To explain why we died
And then when they could not
They just made up lies.
But still we believed them
Because that’s what we wanted
We wanted their comfort
Although it was nonsense.
You’d think we’d have learned
After all of this time
That gods should be spurned
We should leave them behind.
Intelligent creatures,
If that’s what we are,
Should be looking for features
Of life in the stars,
Not looking at crosses
Or crescents or moons.
We might as well worship
Our knives, forks and spoons.
This faith stuff is saddening
It’s holding us back.
In fact it is maddening
It hides all the facts.
The facts are straightforward
There just is no god.
There just never has been,
There just never was.
Faith isn’t a blessing
It’s something much worse
It’s really a dressing
It’s really a curse.
Have faith in each other.
Believe in ourselves.
Help me to be better.
I’ll help you as well.

7 thoughts on “Do We Really Need Gods?

  1. Jane Dougherty says:

    One day I’m going to sit down and dig though the history of the world to see if I can find a single war that wasn’t started by religion, fought over religion or had religion as a pretext somewhere along the line.
    Unthinking, unquestioning belief in something that isn’t there used to be called madness.


    1. araykay says:

      Well, thank God for that. Wait. No. I mean…
      I was more than a little nervous about putting the poem up. In these times it’s hard to be open and frank without seeming rude and confrontational. I am so glad you got the aim of it so clearly. Thanks for your comments. Much appreciated.


      1. Jane Dougherty says:

        Questioning God in the US seems to be like admitting to necrophilia, but I see you’re a Yorkshire man. Has American influence made religion a taboo subject there now? I was brought up Irish Catholic in Yorkshire and it wasn’t fun but I had the impression the old Catholic/Protestant warfare was over. The whole religious thing is so divisive. Keep writing poems about it and if anyone chucks a brick chuck it back. Remember, they are WRONG 🙂


      2. araykay says:

        There is more than one religion, Jane, just as there are more places than just Yorkshire. The internet makes the world a space that is easier to fill, with both doubt and certainty, however misplaced both of these are. I promise to keep returning brickbats.


      3. Jane Dougherty says:

        That’s true. The flak comes from different quarters, same God, different sauce. I suppose I really meant that I’m surprised you would be worried about pissing people off. If you’re brought up in a culture of freedom of expression criticism from the flat earthers is really neither here nor there. Brickbats are your friends.


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