Hello again, Everyone

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

Hello again, Everyone,

I am still working on a poem here, but hope to finish it soon. In the meantime, we can but all do our best to be safe, keep well and nurture a positive mindset.

Another “new reader” writes that it is ‘…unfair to talk about religious bigotry.’ He or she is entitled to their point of view, of course, but - not least as a gay man - I have been on the receiving end may times. Most religions are homophobic and always ready to quote from one religious text or another to justify the unjustifiable. Religion is far more than dogma, though, and that is often interpreted to best suit the accuser.

Many Christians, for example, are quick to quote from the Old Testament along the lines that "lying with a man as with a woman." (Leviticus 18) is an abomination rather than the New Testament’s assertion “do into others as you would have them do unto you” (Mark 12).

The New Testament also suggests “Love thy neighbour as thyself” which is a hypocrisy of which many Christians are guilty but choose to ignore, especially in the larger towns and cities where many single people - both sexes, all ages - are left to fend for themselves, even in the midst of a pandemic, no neighbours checking now and then to see if they are ok.

That’s life, of course, as full of complications and contradictions as human nature itself.

In my experience, the best religious-minded people will always put other people before religious dogma, in whatever they feel it is the right course of action, knowing in their hearts that no God would have them do otherwise, however much any fellow Believers might feel obliged to have their say, and argue to the contrary.

It well may be that most if not all of us are guilty of neither physically nor emotionally supporting others where we could and should, for whatever reason, but we don’t all hide behind religion to justify our inaction; how any human conscience may deal with us, though, is something else altogether.

The same “new reader” claims to enjoy some of my poems and is “genuinely sorry” that I will go to Hell when I die. Since I believe that any hell lies in what we make of life in the Here-and-Now we must agree to differ, but…  who knows, until we are beyond reach of all human consciousness or conscience?

Take care, folks and I hope to complete a new poem today, disorderly thought processes (more than a little out of sync with bardic aspirations) notwithstanding.

Many thanks for dropping by, much appreciated,

Do try browsing the archives in my absence as, when and if the whim takes you… for better or worse.

Hugs,

Roger

[Note: This poet also appears on my gay poetry blog today.]