You’ve probably seen this Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus … poem. Well. He’s been answered. And not awfully.
Allow me to digress for just a moment.
*pulls soap box out of Mary Poppins carpet bag*
I love that this is garnering attention for spoken word. And, fine, loosely defined, it could be spoken word, but if you’ve never really listened to spoken word, don’t let this be your plum line.
It’s a fine poem, and the kid is a fine orator. But a lot of spoken word artists and enthusiasts would tell you that spoken word often mixes poetry and prose, weighs heavily on alliteration, messes with meter and internal rhyme scheme, and is more of a performance than a recital. It’s a good poem, and I’m sure the guy is genuine and passionate. I’m just … gonna continue to call it “a poem.”
On to business.
First, if you haven’t seen it, or haven’t seen the whole thing, start here:
Now, a Catholic priest responds. And he’s a little sassy about it. In a fun way.
Touché.
He kind of makes the first guy seem like a punk kid, if you ask me. A well-intentioned, but perhaps over-confident, punk kid.
Now, if you really want some spoken word, check out these:
(AND, while I don’t touch these three, far be it from me to hide behind a computer screen. My last attempt is here, starting at 0:40. There’s no swanky background music or fun camera action, but it’s there.)