The Trump phenomenon's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. During the period of a few weeks, the nation's leader commenced revealing the public his plans for a gilded ballroom double the dimensions compared to the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the eastern section to build it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the present calculation of casualties resulting from his reductions to USAID is 600,000 and growing, and recently research predicted his energy policies would result in fatalities an additional 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No other president would have dared – genuinely, no previous leader would have contemplated – solo demolishing significant portions of the presidential residence to build a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of some of America's wealthiest, nearly all of which conduct transactions with federal agencies.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' to 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the chief executive try to upend the established notion regarding democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there is one large group within America who wouldn't consider it completely novel. That is those of us – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years as politically conservative religious groups converted the Savior we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they transformed an image of love into a figure of hostility who blesses exactly the harshness that he denounced in scripture; this has happened more gradually, across decades as opposed to months, however it is still disturbing through similar means, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Christ that I grew up with, as conceptually Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and since the quickly increasing segment within America may possess limited understanding about him as they consider themselves atheists or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth within Christian narrative.
It is unquestionably not the narrative of a powerful ruler arising; rather, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to a different country to evade undercover officers. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his doctrine concerns compassion for fellow humans, particularly for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to turn the additional cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a way to teach the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing is that if a person pilfers your jacket you must offer them your pullover as well.
The apparent and direct fact that the Jesus from scripture requests a type of extreme compassion concentrated on the impoverished has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a scandalous religion: attractive to the general public, but due to its natural unconventionality needing to be contained. In the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Finest Among Us
So I have been heartened to observe the persistent defiance to Trump emerge during the previous year. It has served as significant comfort to assist in constructing the movement that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated voters to turn out in large quantities during minor elections. We must have to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners at every demonstration and calls to the finest aspects of American history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and receive them or not?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, through connection to the finest in US heritage, just as Christianity is most protected by reference to what makes it unique and beautiful, specifically the model of the Savior. In both situations does it imply pretending the most negative regarding America and Christian faith never occurred; it represents both humility and faith, a combination that serious US believers should be comfortable with.
