Some thoughts

Last night a community member vehemently spoke out against the book. He basically gave a sermon, stating that God wouldn't support the book. I'm leery of anyone stating what God would and wouldn't do. Plus, there's the whole separation of church and state issue.

I was reminded of one my favorite poems has always been "The Day Zimmer Lost Religion." Mom, an ardent Catholic, and I discussed this poem often.

Does Zimmer really lose his religion? Or does he lose his faith in God? I say there is quite a difference. Let me know what you think.

The Day Zimmer Lost Religion

Paul Zimmer (b. 1934)

The first Sunday I missed Mass on purpose
I waited all day for Christ to climb down
Like a wiry flyweight* from the cross and
Club me on my irreverent teeth, to wade into
My blasphemous gut and drop me like a
Red hot thurible*, the devil roaring in
Reserved seats until he got the hiccups.

It was a long cold way from the old days
When cassocked and surpliced* I mumbled Latin
At the old priest and rang his obscure bell.
A long way from the dirty wind that blew
The soot like venial sins* across the schoolyard
Where God reigned as a threatening,
One-eyed triangle high in the fleecy sky.

The first Sunday I missed Mass on purpose
I waited all day for Christ to climb down
Like the playground bully, the cuts and mice
Upon his face agleam, and pound me
Till my irreligious tongue hung out.
But of course He never came, knowing that
I was grown up and ready for Him now.


line 3-flyweight: a boxer weighing less than 112 pounds.
line 6-thurible: a censor, container in which incense is burned.
line 9-cassocked and surpliced: wearing the traditional garb of an altar boy during Mass.

I maintain that Zimmer has lost his fear of religion, a fear that can sometimes be instilled when a child is indoctrinated into a faith. I remember a story I heard from a young man who had a nun tell him - "Imagine a vast mountain range as tall as the eye can see, a range that reaches far into the clouds. Every thousand years a bird comes and takes a pebble from the top of the mountain range. When that mountain range is laid bare, that is your first second in hell."

That would scare the crap out of me.

Luckily, I never had a terrible experience with the church like that. My religious ed, for the most part, was entertaining. I even knew more than most of my classmates - at least when we were in elementary school - because we often debated religion in my household, especially when my brother converted to Jehovah Witness.

There are several ways of looking at it --

While Zimmer has lost his faith in man-driven religion, his faith in the Divine has only strengthened. Notice he still capitalizes "He" and "Him" in the last stanza.

Then again, maybe he doesn't lose his faith in religion. Maybe he has just matured enough to know that he doesn't need to fear it? I don't know.

I certainly don't think that he has totally lost his faith. But there are those who argue that interpretation.

Personally, I agree with the former take on the poem. There's just something that I like about that last stanza that makes me believe that he realizes he doesn't need the "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God" approach to religion. Yet, it doesn't take his belief in the Divine away. I kind of like that.