Christian Fascism, Ever Rearing Its Serpentine Head

 MY PARENTS did me a great service by refraining from providing me any religious instruction or indoctrination. Their assumption, which was quite correct, was that I possessed the necessary intelligence to develop my own religious views and to choose my own influencers. I have always suspect that my fervently devout Christian grandmothers,women born in the nineteenth century, were held in obeyance only by the strict admonitions of my protective, intellectually astute  parents. Arguably, religious instruction-indoctrination of children is child abuse. This is a view with which I strongly agree. And so it came to pass that by the time I was in third grade, I realized that I would never be a Christian, nor a votary of any religion other than one of my own invention. As Goethe said: "When I realized that everyone invents his own religion, I decided to invent mine". Any person who believes that all people should embrace the Christian religious faith, and that anyone does does not is not "saved", is, by definition, a "fascist"; a  devout loyalist to an elite class, with the strong belief that all other no members are outsiders, and thus, the enemy. Hitler or else. Jesus or else. I recall in grade school  reading the book of "Genesis",being fascinated by its creation story and story of the origins of life on Earth. I was at the same agrees absorbing every book on astronomy and science I could borrow from the local library, and comparing the two versions, creationism, and evolution by natural selection. Modern cosmology, with far flung galaxies light years apart, and a solar system of planets orbiting a blazing star a million miles in diameter easily won my acceptance,over a flat Earth with pin pricks in the dome of heaven through which the blazing light of heaven shines, or the stars as glass trinkets hanging from said dome, which will fall and smash on the ground at the end of days. Both explanations of stars occur in the Bible. They contradict each other, as much of the Bible contradicts itself. The graduate programs in theology at both the Harvard theology seminary an the Princeton school of religious studies both quite willingly and correctly point out the thousands of false statements in the Bible.Most students enter these doctoral programs of biblical studies as born again Christians; about half of them graduate as agnostics or atheists,and pursue lucrative careers from the pulpit nonetheless. My entire life, the more devout the Christian "friend", the less tolerant of m beliefs. Even my friends   who seemingly accept my lack of Christian faith or traditional religiosity seem to be lurking in wait, awaiting a hoped for opportunity to "save" me. Evangelical Christian fascism in America is more strident, more dangerous, and more active than at any other time in American history.  And, overwhelmingly, it supports and indeed  idolizes Donald Trump. No better proof of its malignant fascism exists.  Nothing could be more appropriate, however. What better way for religious fascists to express their fascism than by cherishing and supporting a political fascist?