The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and defining occasions – not its most crucial, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of multiple weeks, the US president began displaying the public his intentions for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions of the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the present calculation of casualties due to his slashing to USAID is 600,000 and increasing, and recently research predicted his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have risked – really, no other president would have imagined – unilaterally destroying large sections of the presidential residence in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of some of America's wealthiest, almost all of whom maintain dealings with the government.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' toward 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the leader try to upend the old idea about democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment among Americans who might not perceive it entirely new. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed throughout the years as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we grew up with into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. Essentially, they transformed an image of affection into a symbol of hate who blesses specifically the brutality that he criticized in scripture; this change developed more gradually, through multiple decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless unsettling in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Therefore allow me to outline the Christ from my childhood, because theoretically the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and given that the rapidly expanding group among Americans might have little sense of him as they consider themselves atheists or agnostics or spiritual independents. I have no problem with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that there are pearls of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically absolutely not the narrative of a powerful ruler emerging; instead, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to escape undercover officers. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, an employed craftsman; his message concerns compassion for others, especially for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Jesus' answer to violence is to offer the other cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a means to instruct the assailant; his method regarding offenses is that if an individual takes your jacket you must offer him your sweater too.
The evident and clear truth that the Savior of the gospels calls for a form of extreme compassion concentrated on the impoverished has perpetually caused Christianity something of a controversial faith: engaging for the general public, but owing to its intrinsic extremism requiring to be controlled. In the 1950s it was restrained through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Best Among Us
Hence I have become inspired to observe the steadfast resistance to Trump arise in this past year. It has served as substantial consolation to assist in constructing the movement that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated voters to show up in numbers in the off-year elections. We must have to persist with it, and with identical determination, with American flags during all protests and appeals to the highest qualities of American history.
We will be questioned ... about how you treated the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or not?
America is best defended, essentially, through connection to the finest in US heritage, just as Christianity is optimally secured by relationship to elements that cause it to be distinctive and beautiful, specifically the model of Jesus. In neither case does it suggest acting as if the most negative about the nation and religious tradition was nonexistent; it means both humility and belief, a combination that serious American Christians ought to accept.
