If There Were No God

If there were no God, then there could not be,
Any stable argument for equality.
If there were no God, heads should hang in despair,
We who came from nothing are headed nowhere.

If there were no God, then why is there hope
That reason could be our new cardinal or pope?
If all rose by chance, then how could it be
That thoughts in my mind would match what I see?

If there were no God, then why save the earth?
Perhaps its decay would just bring a new birth.
Extinction is part of the evolving plan.
In the brave new world, why does it need man?

If there is no God, there is no moral base,
We would pick our own values, that work in each case.
How could we say that another is wrong?
We should rejoin the jungle, the animalistic throng.

If there is no God, then justice must fail,
No heaven for saints, and for Hitler no hell.
Those who hurt the innocent sleep in their grave,
No God to judge, no redeemer to save.

If there is no God why not take what I need?
That’s how animals do it, and we’re just their seed.
Why lift up the poor, or help the sick and the lame?
Survival of the fittest should be a cruel game.

If there is no God, there is no will to be free,
Programmed biology would describe you and me.
Chemically determined, no responsible choice,
Just part of a machine, man has no real voice.

If there is no God, then death cancels it all,
When we’re all gone, no one there to recall.
Man rose on the earth as a meaningless zit,
His history fades into a bottomless pit.

If you believe there’s no God, reconsider your view
Your more than steam rising from some cosmic stew
So lay down your shield and take God in your thought,
By faith be the child of the one that you’ve fought.

This poem won second place for the February 2020 poetry contest