Dawkins on morality

"It is far more moral to do good because it is right, rather than as a way of sucking up to God"

Professor Richard Dawkins.

Mali

To Mali they come
To spread their disease

To the cradle of mankind they come
To steal the baby

To a place of song and dance they come
To turn off the music

To a continent in darkness they come
To dim the lights

To the illiterate they come
To take the books 

To a land in poverty they come
To make it poorer

To women without power they come
To make them powerless 

To children who don’t get old they come
To take away their youth 

To Mali they come
To spread their disease 

Steve D
Jan 2013


Since April 2012, Islamic extremists associated with Al- Qaeda controlled much of Northern Mali. They have implemented an extreme form of Sharia law similar to that imposed by the Taliban of Afghanistan. Ancient religious sites have been desecrated and destroyed, men and women persecuted and murdered. The international community initially did little to challenge this sickening development. Thankfully French and African troops are now working to free northern Mali.

Do not enter here

Do not enter here
If the truth offends

Nor open this door
If your doors are closed

Do not walk in my shoes
Unless you accept the path I am on

I am happy if you walk with me
But I can also walk alone

Do not peer through these windows

If the Sky dazzles, If the Sun blinds
But if you need to lift the dark
Then share with me the view
Of an unanswered universe
That lights only itself

Do not bring your God’s in here
There is no room for baggage
Or a seat or form for them to sit
Nor any need for men to pray
But if questions are your faith
Then please come in, I beg you stay 

Steve D

Feb 2013

"Religion is an insult to human dignity" - Stephen Weinberg

“Religion is an insult to human dignity.

Without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things.

But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion”.

Steven Weinberg – Nobel Prize Winning Physicist

A thousand bombs

A thousand bombs

In a thousand hands

Kill a thousand men

Right a thousand wrongs

But a single beat

From a single heart

In a single child

Sounds a soul retreat

So mothers cry

And fathers sob

Eternal grief

For those who die

Steve D

March 2013

Church of the mind

What church is this?
Have all the faithful gone?
Is there none invited?
Does no one ever come?

Who closed the doors?
Locked the bolt
Dimmed the lights
Stained windows black

Where lonely priest
Sings unheard hymns
Speaks silent sermon
To absent flock

But church it is,
And temple too

A place to sit and think
Where questions are the answers
Knowledge is the meal
And understanding makes the drink

Steve D
March 2013

Boston

On the stair
A pair

Of shoes

Unused

Since the day

They took away

The bloodied pegs

That once were legs

On the stairs they stay

Cannot run away

Their race is done

Such bitter pill

To have no feet to fill

The shoes I have to run

Steve D

April 2013

"give me my freedom" Emmeline Pankhurst

"I mean to be a voter in the land that gave me birth or they shall kill me, and my challenge to the Government is: kill me or give me my freedom: I shall force you to make that choice".

Emmeline Pankhurst - Suffragette - 1913