STEVE ALLEN: JOKEMEISTER LYRICIST & SAGE
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I just happened to catch an interview of Steve Allen on CTV the other day & I was impressed by what he had to say on various subjects & especially religion. So here are a couple of quotes I came across...
At the website :Agnosticism / Atheism
From Austin Cline,Your Guide to Agnosticism / Atheism.
At http://atheism.about.com
“. ...And no philosophy, sadly, has all the answers. No matter how assured we may be about certain aspects of our belief, there are always painful inconsistencies, exceptions, and contradictions. This is true in religion as it is in politics, and is self-evident to all except fanatics and the naive. As for the fanatics, whose number is legion in our own time, we might be advised to leave them to heaven. They will not, unfortunately, do us the same courtesy. They attack us and each other, and whatever their protestations to peaceful intent, the bloody record of history makes clear that they are easily disposed to restore to the sword. My own belief in God, then, is just that -- a matter of belief, not knowledge. My respect for Jesus Christ arises from the fact that He seems to have been the most virtuous inhabitant of Planet Earth. But even well-educated Christians are frustrated in their thirst for certainty about the beloved figure of Jesus because of the undeniable ambiguity of the scriptural record. Such ambiguity is not apparent to children or fanatics, but every recognized Bible scholar is perfectly aware of it. Some Christians, alas, resort to formal lying to obscure such reality.” [Steve Allen tv host , composer & writer)
“ There are hundreds of millions who believe the Messiah has come. If he did, then it is unfortunately the case that his heroic sacrifice and death have had no effect whatsoever on the very problem his coming might have been expected to address, for history demonstrates, beyond question, that we Christians have been just as dangerous, singly and en masse, as non-Christians.” [Steve Allen, Steve Allen, on the Bible Religion & Morality]
“ The Bible has been interpreted to justify such evil practices as, for example, slavery, the slaughter of prisoners of war, the sadistic murders of women believed to be witches, capital punishment for hundreds of offenses, polygamy, and cruelty to animals. It has been used to encourage belief in the grossest superstition and to discourage the free teaching of scientific truths. We must never forget that both good and evil flow from the Bible. It is therefore not above criticism.” [Steve Allen, Steve Allen, on the Bible Religion & Morality]
also see: Steve Allen On Line
http://www.steveallen.com
So much for Steve Allen & now for a few verses I have written recently...
Exiled from Paradise or The Envy of Angels & the Czars of the Cafes in Exile
& The Prayer of the People
As fallen angels
they see themselves
gathering in smokey cafes
tossed out on their ears
those all too serious poets pedants
& philosophers the splitters of hairs
those Czars of the Cafes
arguing loudly late into the night
proving themselves out of existence
no smoking no politics no religion
ridding ourselves of them at last
& their constant quizzing
of matters beyond their station
as we take comfort knowing
all has been decreed from on high
& spelled out in our Holy Books -
Those self-styled fallen angels
rant & rave ridiculing our new cafes
well-lighted sparkling plastic & neon
free of that deadly smoke
free of all their nonsense
taking cheap shots at our religion
& other sacred things
free at last from all their jibes
& sermons on the rights of man
integrity & dignity & other nonsense
which never paid the bills
in the world of Mammon-
as the fallen angels meet
almost secretly except no one cares
ah the revolution they say just a little interlude
in a world where ignorance & tyranny rule
we should have known not to care
so they say forever lamenting losing their cafes
once their domain these Czars of the Cafes
for now they say it’s all just safe talk
spouting the latest words of wisdom
a thousand soulless ones
reading books to impress
dreaming of profits & riches
flipping condos & houses
adding college degrees
collecting college degrees
collecting profitable friends
discarding the misfits
discarding the misbegotten
collecting lovers
discarding lovers
ridiculing the selfless acts of fools
praising the selfish acts of the truly superiour
using the common man to suit their ends
all pawns in a meaningless world
caught in a world bathed in blood
red in tooth & claw so they say -
& we the people their underlings know our place
as we bow & scrape as they pass
tossing those upstarts & rabble rousers
those addled headed Czars of the cafes
into the darkest dungeons
who dare offend our aristocrats
born to be our betters
who deem to walk among us
sent by God as He sees fit
adding grace to our sullied lives
grateful to live in servitude
to those sent from on high -
Coda :
in a vision seeing them as they are
winged vampires
dressed for success
telling the poor they know what’s best -
so praise the new tyrants
keep them in your prayers
as they are god’s chosen ones
like the aristocrats of centuries passed -
GOOD NIGHT & GOOD LUCK,
GORD.
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