[image: Giordano Bruno, 1458-1600]

Heresy

Noun: a belief or opinion that does not agree with the official belief or opinion of a particular religion.

One commonality among the vast majority of religions is that each professes to embody the truth. While that may appear to be an innocuous statement when considered in isolation of the entire scope of human thought, it is nevertheless a basic affront to human intelligence. How can two or more contrary beliefs each be true ? Such contradictions can give rise not only to wars and conflicts among different religions; they foment conflict within their own body of believers. On an individual basis, clerics attempt to win the conflict by declaring the disputant member a heretic. That person is ostracized, excommunicated, and sometimes is killed. In so doing, that religion gains notoriety in the thinking world as a false religion and not worthy of being taken seriously by any human capable of thinking for him/herself. The history of the past 3,500 years or so provides ample evidence of these general observations.

Let others make a more detailed case for why they do not believe in religion, or why any particular religion is fundamentally flawed. Religious beliefs only set the backdrop for my thesis. My purpose is to make the case against heresy as an indefensible act of cruelty against humanity regardless of the specific charge, the judge, or the intention of the perpetrator. What you or I choose to believe, or not, about somebody else’s beliefs can never be the basis for condemnation by anyone, to say nothing about why we should not be murdered. Prose, however, is the format for logic and rational thought. Poetry taps into emotion. Together, they can combine to change the cruelest heart.
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To Hell with Heresy

There once was a man who roamed the land
He examined life as scientist mathematician
Philosopher astronomer and poet
A free thinker whose mind was his treasure
He challenged the status quo
He challenged church clerics
They drove a spike thru his tongue
And burned him at the stake
Along with thousands more
For the audacity of speaking against
False beliefs and in favor of
Seeking the truth.
Heresy fell
To the pits of hell.