One of these was written by an open atheist.

The other was penned by a Roman Catholic saint-to-be. Which is which?

Passage 1
Couched in cauls of clay as in holy robes,
Dead men render love and war no heed,
Lulled in the ample womb of the full-tilt globe.

No spiritual Caesars are these dead;
They want no proud paternal kingdom come;
And when at last they blunder into bed
World-wrecked, they seek only oblivion.

Rolled round with goodly loam and cradled deep,
These bone shanks will not wake immaculate
To trumpet-toppling dawn of doomstruck day :
They loll forever in colossal sleep;
Nor can God's stern, shocked angels cry them up
From their fond, final, infamous decay.


Passage 2
For me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see,—Listen and do not hear—the tongue moves but does not speak. Such deep longing for God—and … repulsed—empty—no faith—no love—no zeal.—The saving of Souls holds no attraction—Heaven means nothing. What do I labor for? If there be no God—there can be no soul—if there is no Soul then Jesus—You also are not true.

The smile is a mask or a cloak that covers everything. I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God — tender, personal love. If you were there, you would have said, 'What hypocrisy.'

I talk to God, but the sky is empty, and Orion walks by and doesn't speak.

I am told God loves me, and yet the reality of the darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul.


Answer: Passage 1 was written by the poet Sylvia Plath. Passage 2 is from the journal of Mother Teresa, who, it seems to be coming to light, was either an atheist or agnostic in her later years - at the very least struggling very hard to find her faith (and who could blame her?), even while continuing to uphold her image and preside over her organization of hospices.

So, better to be openly skeptical of God, or to passionately convince others of His Majesty and Grace while harboring a dying belief yourself? I would say, take "God" out of it, be a great humanitarian and you will still be loved and respected, not to mention you can still do the same amount of GOOD in the world, which is all that matters.

I guess having been brought up a Roman Catholic nun in Albania, that was simply not an option; she must have felt it would have crumbled her base of power were she to come out of the religious closet and proclaim she didn't believe anymore. Too bad, it might have been a powerful example that mercy does not need to be linked to a deity; we humans can be compassionate and altruistic of our own choosing.

Anyway, lots of interesting stuff like this has been found in her journals since her death. I'm sure the Catholic church will conveniently ignore it all and make her a saint anyway. They're 3/4 of the way there with the beatification by the late Pope John Paul II. Silly Catholics.