Too Many Signs

Too many signs passed by this morning for me to ignore them. 

The first sign was a dream waking me up. All I could remember was an image of some dude dressed in 1800s duds hanging from a cross made of woven straw, hay, or grass. This first sign I blew off and got started with my day.

I am an admitted hoarder, uh, I mean collector. Have been all my life. I never know when that something I saved 10 years ago might come in handy. In defense of myself, I rationalize by asking, "Is my style of collecting really hoarding?" Or is it collecting things I know will come in handy someday. I go with "collecting". "Hoarding" sounds like a psychological condition. And I know I am sane.... at least most days I do.

My second sign appeared as I was enjoying my first cup of coffee and scrolling through some of the 437 screenshots currently taking up space in my PC . I do this sometimes on the premise I will actually delete a few.....  HA! Yeah, sure thing. The next time I want to scroll, there will be 460 or 470..... who knows? I certainly cannot delete them. I might have a use for one in 10 years. 

In mid scroll, the second sign caught my attention; an image of an older man wearing a classically red MAGA hat, only the words read, "Make America Pray Again." This image tied in and disturbed me more than the crucifix up top; which BTW, is not a very good representation of the image from my dream.

It was when the Jon Stewart quote showed up in my Facebook feed during my second cup of coffee, I couldn't ignore this many signs any longer. Their appearance in such quick succession gave me my Blog topic for May 6, 2025. I had finally found some connections within that messy network, I charitably call my mind. Bold letters formed many inches high:

ORGANIZED RELIGION

Again one of my go to subjects was begging for more commentary. I certainly have beaten this horse many times in the past and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.

My first thought was of the wish of many Americans hoping to return to the days they have been painting in their minds of when America was a safe country, a just country, a country that obeyed the Will of God. Their delusion regarding this never-was paradise of Heaven on Earth has had years to morph into a fantasy that the Word of God will not only once again run our lives on Sunday, it will also run our lives every other day of the week. Mandatory fealty to an imaginary entity will eventually put all of us on the same page and life will be wonderful again.

Of course first, we have to clean up the messes those pesky Libtards, Commies, uppity women, Brown people and all the other Satan worshiping Heathens forced upon us. To make that happen, a big first step would be to put all the brown people in their place or boot them out of the country. 

God wants a White Nation. We know this because just look at any proper crucifix. There is always a handsome lanky White American Jesus, a guy with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, dangling from those Roman nails patiently waiting too be resurrected for who? Not brown people, that's for sure.

The Christian Nationalist hat the old guy is wearing reminds me and should remind anyone who sees it, that there is no difference between the Taliban and the type of control Christian Nationalists want. They are quick to loudly disclaim any association with those hated Fundamentalist Muslims. Hell, they don't dress like us, they don't pray like us, and most of all, most of them don't look like us.

If those are their sole criteria, they are fooling themselves. Besides, those are only the differences in  appearance. At the core of both extreme versions of their rigid beliefs is control, iron control with dire consequences for those who dare stand up to them.

The Christian Nationalist leaders recognize the fact that they do not have the same power over Christians as the Taliban has over its Islamic flock. Most are afraid to admit they wish they had. That would only lend credibility to the notion of Iron control the Christian Nationalists really want. But they cannot help themselves. They constantly expose their true intentions by committing unforced errors with public displays like the hat there. "Make America Pray Again" is unequivocally calling for mandatory prayer among our population. It doesn't use persuasion like "Urge America to Pray Again, it insists we "MAKE America Pray Again.

I remember mandatory Lord's Pprayer and mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. All through primary and secondary school, both were part of my morning rituals at the various schools I attended. Funny thing though, it did not seem to make any difference. Christianity had begun to leak followers in the 1960s .This slow trickle jumped dramatically in the 1970s and continued until now. In the late 1960s 73% of Americans claimed they attended church regularly. Today, the number is around 47%. 

This loss in Christian strength might make those who dislike organized Christianity feel full of themselves.; make them feel they have American Christianity on the run.  Don't be foolish. Organized Christianity is patient, insidious  and determined. It will never be defeated. This drop has only made the Fundamentalist Christians even more dangerous than ever before. There is a higher percentage of fundamentalists relative to the remaining population of self described Christians. That makes the potential for a Christian Nationalist takeover of what is left of Christianity in this country, a more attainable goal; a movement of maybe lower numbers but with a more evil intent.

Last but not least. almost every time I think of the possibility of an American Theocratic State, I dredge up a flash fiction piece I first wrote on 1/4/2012, then re-posted on 9/7/2021. It proposes a possible future that should worry all of us. Yeah, it is fiction, but given the recent push by Christian Nationalists, its a damn site more believable than any Zombie movie.

On that cheery note, I will bid you Adieu ........................................

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I finally am posting a song that we could consider current and up to date. This is a band I just discovered. A punk rock group formed in the late 1980s were still releasing new music as recently as 2020. Here is "Christian Nationalist", by Anti - Flag. 

Optimal impact  - punch it up to and including WOW on the volume dial.