Will This Madness Ever Cease?

They said You delighted in seeing us sad,

And in us being mournful You were glad.

To laugh, they cautioned, or even to grin,

In Your book You’d record as grave sin.

They said You enjoyed to see us weep,

Saying that it showed faith most deep.

You hated us being happy they said,

Demanding that we be glum instead.

The faintest hint of a fleeting smile,

Would, they taught, our souls defile,

Warning us that You’d be annoyed

If the slightest pleasure we enjoyed.

Our selves, they thundered, we must hate,

Denounce, decry, and sternly berate.

Only this way, they said, when we’d die,

Could we enter Heaven, up in the sky,

In Your name millions they thus misled

By the many lies they ceaselessly said.

Their false doctrines they widely preached,

Far and wide with them they reached.

Wherever they went all joy they fought,

As their message of misery they taught,

Themselves believing it to be Your will,

Which they sought zealously to fulfill,

Revelling in being joyless and dour,

Hard and harsh, bitter and sour.

In Your name all this they sought to do,

Thinking they would thus please You.

Why this horror, and why all this pain

Which led millions to be driven insane?

Since You know all things, so they say,

You must know why it happened this way.

Surely You know best who's to blame

For all the misery caused in Your name.

 Will this madness ever finally cease?

Make that happen very soon, please.