Proselyte

 

I collect data which simpletons call facts 

I make observations blinded by traditions

I pose questions about questions that deflect

I develop arguments uncomfortable to mine

I offer suggestions others call speculations 

I have no evangelistic spirit

No mission below

No great commission from above

To advise others

To believe or not

Or even what to believe

As long as one believes 

That belief is faith in trust that’s loyal

To the faith entrusted to those who believe

My humor is dry 

I’m also not an enthusiastic tribalist

Geeked-out in defense of absolute truth

Nor am I a belligerent book burner

Or full-fledged misanthrope

I’m just heterodoxically dull

I neither assail Temple Mounts

Nor man apologetical barricades

I’m content 

As an embedded intelligencer

Offering provisional judgments 

Of guilded dogmas

Hoping to raise issues 

Others might find worthwhile pursuing 

You have been forewarned

You, with materialistic epistocracy 

You, with dogmatic goggles of ideology

You, with your reductionistic bag 

Of tricks, anomalies and absurdities

Explanations for every thing and why

All you who begin to listen to alternatives 

Will conclude with the same 

Commitments held before 

Multiple limitations will become excuses

Emotions will rule in moments of disagreement

Your adversary must be aloof 

To religious sensitivities

Historical complexities

Philosophical densities

Or theological tectonicities

Because you don’t actually long for the truth 

In the way a drowning man struggles 

For a breath of continued being

You’ll remain like those on powdered sugar

Beaches of sunny panhandles 

What you really want is a way to escape 

Yet remain comfortable and safe

Synonyms for justification

Of what you already trust