it wasn't god we needed to invent -
it was faith.
god is just a straw man, a prop
because most of us
aren't comfortable praying to ourselves;
which is strange
because when it comes to believing things we can't prove
we are all fundamentalists.

we believe all kinds of weird shit:
like the idea that half a million people
will die of cancer this year
but we won't be one of them.
or the idea that fifty thousand people
will die in car accidents this year
but we're going to drive home tonight
and get there.
or the idea that we will fall in love with someone
and they will actually love us, too.
or the idea that a family
is a group of people who stay together.
or the idea that our children
will outlive us.

we don't get these ideas from god,
god's got nothing to do with it -
we're operating on pure faith here.
we just needed god so there would be
someone who needed a house
so we could build that house
and call it god's house
instead of what it really is:
the Gold's Gym of faith,
the Bally's Total Fitness of faith,
where we go to run on a theological treadmill
ride a biblical bicycle
climb spiritual steps
lift worshipful weights
it's all just practice -

so that one day,
when we find out we need to pray to ourselves,
we'll know how.