The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and defining instances – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – emerged earlier this harvest season. In the course of a few weeks, the nation's leader started showing all observers his designs for an ornate dance hall twice the size of the White House and then began independently demolishing the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has committed acts ten thousand times worse – the present calculation of casualties due to his slashing to foreign assistance is 600,000 and increasing, and recently an analysis forecast his petroleum strategies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have dared – really, no other president would have imagined – independently wrecking significant portions of the White House in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the direct cooperation of multiple the nation's most affluent, almost all of whom have business with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' into 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the president attempt to overturn the traditional concept about democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there exists a significant segment of Americans who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts a near majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we learned about into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Essentially, they transformed an image of affection into a figure of hostility who endorses specifically the brutality that he denounced in scripture; this change developed more gradually, through multiple decades rather than months, however it is still disturbing in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Christ that I grew up with, since in theory Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and given that the fastest-growing cadre of Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him since they are non-believers or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with different religions; but I do think that there are pearls of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically not the story of a mighty king arising; conversely, an infant arrives to displaced parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to evade covert authorities. The child matures in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his doctrine concerns compassion for others, especially for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to present the additional cheek – not as a demonstration of compliant endurance, but as a way to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever a person pilfers your jacket you ought to provide the person your additional clothing also.
The evident and straightforward reality that the Savior of the gospels advocates for a type of extreme compassion concentrated on the impoverished has perpetually caused the Christian faith rather a provocative belief system: engaging for the general public, but due to its natural unconventionality demanding to be restrained. In the fifties it was controlled via weakening – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Finest of Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to observe the steadfast resistance regarding Trump arise in this past year. It has served as significant comfort to assist in constructing the initiative that has taken to the streets via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged electorate to participate in large quantities in the off-year elections. We shall require to continue it, and with identical determination, featuring US banners during all protests and appeals to the finest aspects of American history.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or not?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, by reference to the highest in US heritage, similar to Christianity is most protected by reference to what makes it unique and wonderful, which is the example of the Savior. In both situations does it imply feigning the worst about the nation and religious tradition did not happen; it signifies both modesty and conviction, a blend that committed US believers ought to accept.
