The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and defining moments – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. During the period of multiple weeks, the American president started showing everyone his designs for a lavish reception room double the dimensions of the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to erect it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the existing assessment of fatalities due to his slashing to USAID stands at 600,000 and increasing, and recently research projected his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No other president would have attempted – really, no previous leader would have conceived – 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 federal agencies.
We went from 'the gentle will obtain the world' into 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to witness the leader try to upend the traditional concept about democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there exists a significant segment of Americans who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
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. At its most basic, they converted a persona of love into a figure of hate who endorses specifically the brutality that he denounced in the Gospel; this change developed more gradually, over decades rather than months, but it is nonetheless unsettling in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Savior that I grew up with, as conceptually Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and given that the rapidly expanding group of Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him because they identify as skeptics or agnostics or nones. I take no issue with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably not the story of a powerful ruler appearing; rather, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to evade covert authorities. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a working carpenter; his message concerns compassion for others, particularly for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Christ's response to violence is to offer the additional cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a means to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses is that if a person pilfers your jacket you should give the person your additional clothing too.
The evident and straightforward reality that the Jesus in biblical accounts advocates for a type of radical love centered on the poor has consistently rendered Christian religion rather a controversial faith: attractive to the populace, but due to its intrinsic extremism requiring to be restrained. During the 1950s it was restrained via weakening – Protestant Christianity was so widespread that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Struggle for the Finest of Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to see the persistent defiance to Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has served as significant comfort to help build the movement that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated voters to participate in significant amounts in interim political contests. We must have to maintain it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities of American history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or refuse?
The nation is most protected, essentially, by reference to the best in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is most protected through connection to elements that cause it to be unique and magnificent, particularly the pattern of Jesus. In neither case does it imply pretending the most negative of both America and Christianity did not happen; it means both modesty and faith, a blend that serious national faithful should be comfortable with.
