What folks worship when taboos are taboo…

In less than four hundred words, poet Steve Turner gives us a helpful survey of the modern mind.  His satirical poem “Creed” details many of the beliefs and practices of those who claim to reject all creeds in favor of individual thought.

Creed

    by Steve Turner

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don’t hurt anyone
to the best of your definition of “hurt”,
and to the best of your definition of “knowledge”.

We believe in sex before, during, and
after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything’s getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there’s something in horoscopes,
UFO’s and bent spoons.

Jesus was a good man just like Buddha,
Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher though we think
His good morals were very bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same-
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation,
sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens
they say nothing.

If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its
compulsory heaven for all excepting perhaps
Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn

We believe in Masters and Johnson
What’s selected is average.
What’s average is normal.
What’s normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and
bloodshed.

Americans should beat their guns into tractors.
And the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It’s only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that
is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,

And the flowering of individual thought.

Postscript:

If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky
and when you hear:

“State of Emergency!”

“Sniper Kills Ten!”

“Troops on Rampage!”

“Whites go Looting!”

“Bomb Blasts School!”

It is but the sound of man
worshipping his maker.

Steve Turner’s “Creed” is available at several sites on the Internet.  Turner is an English music journalist, biographer and poet.  As a journalist, he has written for Rolling Stone and The London Times.  His many books include Conversations with Eric Clapton, U2: Rattle and Hum (co-author), Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now, and A Hard Day’s Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song.  He has also written biographies of Marvin Gaye and Johnny Cash.

Steve Turner’s most recent book is Popcultured:  Thinking Christianly About Style, Media and Entertainment, helpfully reviewed here.