Goodbye Christ: Hello Spirituality

In my survey of American Literature class, we were assigned to write a paper on a poem of our choice that we had read in class. I chose a poem by Langston Hughes 'Goodbye Christ.' Because of my christian background and all the years of spent on both sides of the world (good and bad in a way) I was able to put a twist on the poem with how I feel about religion. If you have not read Langston Hughes poem I suggest you check that out first. I did a little explanation on what I was about to write and then I did the poem which you'll see at the bottom. Comment and tell me what you think! http://donbryant.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/goodbye-christ-by-langston-hughes/ A single mind has no power, only so many outlets, only so many perspectives. But the minds of millions together have a power misunderstood even by the few that control it. We lock on an idea and force it to be true, one yes at a time. With each yes, each nod of approval it gains power. Now that seed that one man carried has become even greater than the beanstalk that Jack struggled to climb sitting amongst the clouds. Its strength reaches into each of our brains giving us full belief. It’s just one of the many programs that are double edged swords, but even with the bad, it is a must in a structured society. These old proverbs and parables that we lay on paper have become iconic, worshipped and followed yet not fully understood. They’ve been passed to us jumping through centuries, and despite the forever growing knowledge and new technology of our changing world, they never budge. But the people have, moving with the decades and opening their minds while several dozen of our parents and grandparents hold onto the rock that is religion. As Hughes stated, “And step on the gas, Christ! Move! Don’t be slow about movin’! The world is mine from now on-.” Well, even now people continue to carry the rock on their backs as everyone sprints by them. That song has sang its last tune, danced to its last encore, turned its last page. With the combination of a growing free world, the development of capitalism, and the millions of citizens with their faith, it was not hard to predict that we would be here. Christianity has become one of the biggest businesses (that is not a typo, I know you thought I would say religions) in the free world. Its credibility has been tarnished with the huge temples and leeching preachers and its spill into the entertainment business. They saw a chance to make a dollar off a Bible, and they decided not to stop there. And my generation has had enough! We are more educated, we have more access to information using modern technology, our logic has been expanded. All this with a combination of a more competitive job market and we have pushed the bible aside and pulled out more textbooks. We need results, and sitting in a church for three hours while also paying tithes isn’t going to cut it anymore. A religion that has dominated in families for generations stops here. Why keep giving the man upstairs money if we could save that to buy that home that we keep praying for? Its not that we don’t believe anymore. For many of us, it has been imbedded in our minds for so long that we will always look up to the sky, but a shift has taken place. This world is moving along and it’s moving fast, and Jesus is not keeping up. People are attempting to pray their way into the big office on the top floor of the building while their co-workers actually stay working late nights to get it done. Our greed has become a virus, spreading creating more sharks out of tuna on a day to day basis. Like one of my friends said, “life is simple, your either standing up or sitting down.” Alright, Chris, I see your still floating around, Your spirit is light in the trail of dead presidents. On the top they rant and rave about you while they stand in glorious temples. On the bottom they do the same in their shacks with empty pockets. They are blinded by their ignorance, For if we are all equal, why is there such a difference? We worship the same being, yet we get different result. We watched them as children, Singing out of their hearts only to get hope in return. Praying out loud only to get hope in return. Paying their tithes only to get hope in return. Well it all stops here, Years of anger and frustration will not allow us to go any further. So back up Jesus, We don’t want your Bible, We don’t want your teachings, We don’t want your pamphlets. That is not going to help us live the dream, The dream that our grandparents never got to see. And to replace you, We need nothing but what is inside. Individuals before us helped create this and were shot down, But we have a crowd now. We have opened minds now, We have more books now, We have living idols now! So Goodbye Chris, Hello Spirituality! Because we don’t want progress, we want results!