The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and defining moments – not its most crucial, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president began displaying all observers his plans for a lavish reception room two times larger compared to the White House and then began independently demolishing the eastern section to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the current estimate of deaths from his cuts to USAID is 600,000 and rising, and presently research forecast his petroleum strategies would cause deaths an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have attempted – really, no former commander would have imagined – solo demolishing major areas of the White House to build a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of some of the richest Americans, almost all of whom conduct transactions with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' into 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the president try to upend the old idea of democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who wouldn't consider it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were educated as conventional Protestant believers.
We have witnessed across decades as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we were raised with into the total contrary of our understanding of him. Essentially, they transformed an image of affection into a symbol of animosity who blesses exactly the harshness that he condemned in biblical teachings; this change developed more gradually, across decades instead of months, however it is still disconcerting through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Savior from my childhood, because theoretically Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and because the fastest-growing cadre within America may possess limited understanding regarding him as they consider themselves skeptics or uncertain individuals or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is decidedly not the narrative of a mighty king appearing; instead, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The baby grows up in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his message concerns compassion for others, especially for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Jesus' answer to aggression is to turn the opposite cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a method to instruct the aggressor; his crime policy states that when an individual takes your outer garment you must offer him your sweater also.
The apparent and straightforward reality that Christ from scripture calls for a type of radical love focused on the needy has consistently rendered the Christian faith somewhat of a controversial faith: appealing to the general public, but because of its intrinsic extremism requiring to be controlled. During the 1950s it was contained via weakening – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it essentially sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Highest of Us
So I have been inspired to witness the persistent defiance against Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has provided significant comfort to assist in constructing the initiative that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in numbers in the off-year elections. We must have to persist with it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags throughout each rally and calls to the best parts in US history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the immigrant? Did you welcome them and receive them or refuse?
America is best defended, in other words, by relationship to the finest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is optimally secured by reference to that which renders it distinctive and beautiful, which is the example of Christ. In all circumstances does it mean acting as if the worst of both America and religious tradition never occurred; it signifies both meekness and belief, a blend that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
