Let go of the willing captives. The reborn followers.
Even the cruelest deserve to know you don’t exist.
Bring forth the freedom made by your absence.
Make a promise and keep it. Take this cup of truth
and drink from it. Swish this salt of surrender inside
your mouth. Multiply skeptics far and wide. Flood
newfound wisdom across these deserts
of prayer. Oh, Lord, like a good hero, ride your horse
into that sunset and never turn back.

– Aidan Chafe

Author’s Note: “Prayer in the Age of Unreason” came about because of my current obsession with Judeo-Christian mythology. I was reading poetry from Jericho Brown and Katie Ford, as well as non-fiction and essays from Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris. The combination became a tonic for me writing about religion. This poem is one of the more political and experimental pieces that arrived out of that process.