poetry from American Atheist
[A Journal of Atheist News and Thought]
 
from Vol. 33, No. 6.:
 
The Missionary
 
The Missionary is a man
To view with some suspicion,
He spends his time in foreign lands
Denouncing superstition.
 
He comes, he says, to free the blacks,
To love and educate them,
But once inside their humble shacks,
Does nothing but berate them.
 
You must not worship dieties:
He castigates the chief,
But practice White Man's pieties
For spiritual relief.
 
Young lambs must not be sacrificed,
Shamans must be despised,
To save you from sin, Jesus Christ
Was scorned and ostracized.
 
Out go old customs and taboos
Like juju and rain dances,
The churches fill their empty pews
And lo! the tribe advances.
 
Repent, repent your wicked ways,
Barrabas, Jezebel.
If you don't, this fanatic says,
You'll surely go to Hell.
 
Such is the Mission Man's tirade
Against his hapless brother,
But all he does is trade
One superstition for another.
 
       by Alexander Baron