You-Me-Us Revisited

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Regular readers will know that, while I do not subscribe to any religion, but choose to believe in Earth Mother, I have no problem as such with any religion, providing that it demonstrates humanitarian principles towards Man and Beast.

In the course of my 74 years, I have asked more than one cleric of more than one faith what their religion has against gay people. Do they really believe, I ask, that any God advocating peace and love could possibly be homophobic?

Christians invariably quote Leviticus, regardless of the fact that it is Old Testament and the New Testament all but makes that redundant. The God of whom Jesus of Nazareth preaches is a God of love, a far cry from the vengeful figure of the Old Testament invoking more fear than love. Sadly, the former message seems to linger on around the world. Many a cleric I have spoken to has been inclined to use God as a threat; i.e. Believe or go to Hell.

I once put it to a cleric that no LGBT person should not feel alienated from any religious path in spite of the likes of a certain Archbishop of Canterbury saying he has no problem with gay people, even gay clergy, so long as they do not practise sex. (For my part, I suggest that is tantamount to saying you can lead a horse to water so long as you don’t let it drink.) 

"How can you be sure,” I insisted, “…that God is not too well disposed towards LGBT people?"


“Ah, but of what can any of us be sure,” the cleric responded obliquely, “… but better to err on the side of caution, surely?”

 I am reminded of a quote by Bertrand Russell: ‘Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.’

If subscribing to whatever religion makes a person happy, he or she should never let their sexuality undermine either faith or happiness. instead, embrace both, whatever  socio-cultural-religious ethos we subscribe to...surely?

YOU-ME-US REVISITED

I’m walking through the seasons

of my life, with you,

summer, autumn, winter and spring,

no matter what the weather,

come rain, come shine, come mists;

you-me-us, past-present-future

I’m walking through the time lines

of my life with you

by day and night, by night and day,

no matter love and loss,

come tears of joy, come tears of pain

mind-body-spirit, you-me-us,

I’m talking through the raison d’être

of my life with you,

all sociology, politics and religion

expounding views

hell bent, like as not, on compounding

its stereotypes and fake news

I’m talking through the ups and downs

of my life with you,

confidante, counsellor and a best mate,

closer even to alter ego

than either its history or contemporaneity

in shaping its persona so

I’m always savouring, the better things

in my life with you,

taking heart from the poetry of all nature

and human nature

for its working, reworking and sustaining

you-me-us, past-present-future

I’m always  trying to live by principles

of my life with you,

taking each day as it comes, though dark

or sunny skies;

your passing, my every pulse and heartbeat

mind-body-spirit, you-me-us

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2019