To cry “Save our Mother”
while prying
open the thighs of her daughters,
slashing and burning through souls…
To dance for Durga and honor the cow
while murdering
their brothers in skin and sinew
incensing streets with iron-clad odor….
To dutifully bow to the East
with desire
to bend little boys over at the waist…
To lay flowers at the feet of the Virgin
while planting Los Desaparecidos
and mulching them with lies….
To pray in my name for bounty
and well-being
while blaspheming the same
in bloodlust…
Devotion was never meant to be deadly. Those who let the blood of others in any holy name, in any name of any god or God, are beyond hypocrisy. Those who would diverge from their devotion to cause harm to the least of these are apostasy in action. Those who praise and bully from the pulpit are neither prayerful or praiseworthy.
Belittling or betraying the connection between humanity and the holy, to serve as fear-monger, lyncher, and liar and money-changers at the temple of greed does not offer hope, share love, or imply sacrifice worthy of divine notice.
Supporting and replicating those processes and their perpetrators in the here-world, does not give one special access to any after-world. Nor is it an loving reflection of spiritual communion or any kind of community.
These are not acts of any devil other than ourselves and we have reached a point where we need to decide if our ‘devotion’ is of that replicating the fierce love of those we claim fidelity to or if we’re going to continue false offerings for favors while acting in opposition to those loving aspects they represent. Do we choose to help and heal or harm?