ALL ARE EQUAL IN THE EYES OF THE LORD! (weekly poem)

ALL ARE EQUAL IN THE EYES OF THE LORD!

A gay clergyman has been sacked by the C. of E. for

marrying his lover. Unlike secular bodies, the Church

cannot be sued for wrongful dismissal in this respect.

It’s curious how Christian love,

In this Established sect; (1)

Has the whiff of a hypocrite,

In that it has the opposite,

And quite reverse effect.

It was reversed in byegone days.

When slavery was rife;

With Negroes semi-human and,

Through Noah, Ham and God’s own hand, (2)

The lowest form of life.

It was reversed not long ago,

With each unmarried mum;

When working-class unfortunates,

Were classed as mere inadequates,

And treated just like scum.

It was reversed when bastard kids,

Were herded well away;

And hidden from society,

In dutiful propriety,

To morally decay.

It was reversed in the World Wars,

When God was on each side;

And Christian love for all mankind,

(A feature difficult to find)

Lay down and finally died.

A question for the C. of E.,

Why has it for so long;

Got all the things it claimed was right,

(About which it got so uptight)

Invariably so wrong?

(1) A sect is simply a church whose crazy

ideas don’t agree with your own crazy ideas.

(2) The Curse of Ham, the son of Noah who supposedly

sired all Black people according to Biblical interpretation.

© Richard Layton