The Trump movement's most revealing and defining instances – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of a few weeks, the American president commenced revealing the public his intentions for a gilded ballroom double the dimensions of the White House and then began solo dismantling the East Wing to erect it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the present calculation of deaths due to his slashing to international aid is 600,000 and rising, and recently a study predicted his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have dared – genuinely, no former commander would have imagined – solo demolishing significant portions of the White House to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of some of the richest Americans, the majority of whom have business with the government.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the Earth' toward 'the humble will perish of cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the leader try to upend the established notion regarding democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment among Americans who should not find it entirely new. This includes individuals like us – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we grew up with into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. Essentially, they converted a persona of compassion into a symbol of animosity who blesses precisely the cruelties that he denounced in the Gospel; this change developed more gradually, across decades as opposed to months, yet it remains unsettling in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Christ from my childhood, since in theory the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and given that the rapidly expanding group within America could have minimal awareness of him because they identify as skeptics or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of substantial value in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably definitely not the story of a powerful ruler emerging; rather, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The baby grows up in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his teaching concerns compassion for fellow humans, especially for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and sheltering. Christ's response to aggression is to offer the opposite cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a way to teach the attacker; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever a person pilfers your outer garment you must offer the person your additional clothing also.
The apparent and direct fact that the Jesus in biblical accounts requests a form of radical love centered on the needy has perpetually caused Christian religion somewhat of a scandalous religion: appealing to the general public, but due to its inherent radicalness demanding to be restrained. In the 1950s it was controlled via weakening – Protestantism was so dominant that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Finest of Us
Hence I have become encouraged to witness the persistent defiance against Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has served as great solace to assist in constructing the initiative that has taken to the streets via continuous gatherings, and seems to have inspired citizens to participate in numbers in the off-year elections. We shall require to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags at every demonstration and requests to the best parts of American history.
We shall be interrogated ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or refuse?
The country is optimally secured, essentially, by relationship to the finest in US heritage, just as Christianity is best defended by relationship to that which renders it unique and beautiful, which is the example of Christ. In all circumstances does it mean acting as if the worst about the nation and religious tradition did not happen; it means both humility and conviction, a mixture that genuine national faithful should be comfortable with.
