Church No More

I stepped foot on the pavement as a Christian

but this is not the Holy Land

I once read about in bible study.

Sophisticated systems and IDF officers

stolen settlements and bomb bullets,

there ain't no God in this.

The rhetoric is swayed by wealth and Zionism,

but something about this feels staged.

A settler told us

that he was not in his home for that long.

Told us about the history of his acres

but somehow skipped over the Nekba.

He missed the many details of displacement,

but it is quite simple to fill in the blanks.

If we can hear the loud cries from Gaza in Tel Aviv

then that means that

we are just around the corner.

That genocide has always been nearby.

Can’t you smell the lingering stench

of Palestinian blood,

staining the suits of the politicians at the Knesset?

It drips with every step they take.

I denounced my religion

when I saw living contradictions

in the Holy Land itself.

Pentecostal girl

studying abroad in Jerusalem,

this is the peak of dreams shared by those who believe.

But you did not see all that my eyes did.

I stepped foot on the pavement

as a Christian

and sat on my departing flight

without a God.

Tell me how do I recover

from this type of holy betrayal?