The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and distinctive instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president started showing the public his designs for a gilded ballroom two times larger than the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the East Wing portion to erect it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of deaths from his cuts to international aid amounts to 600,000 and growing, and this week research predicted his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have attempted – really, no other president would have conceived – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the presidential residence to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the direct cooperation of multiple America's wealthiest, the majority of whom maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We went from 'the humble will receive the world' toward 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As disorienting as it is to witness the chief executive try to upend the traditional concept about democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there remains a substantial portion among Americans who wouldn't consider it entirely new. That encompasses people such as ourselves – among senior generations almost a majority – who were brought up as conventional Protestant believers.
We have observed throughout the years as politically conservative religious groups converted the Savior we grew up with into the complete reverse of who we understood him to be. Essentially, they turned a figure of compassion into a figure of hate who endorses specifically the brutality that he criticized in scripture; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, over decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Savior from my upbringing, since in theory the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and because the quickly increasing segment within America may possess limited understanding about him because they identify as non-believers or uncertain individuals or nones. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably not the narrative of an authoritative monarch appearing; rather, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The child matures in simple surroundings, an employed craftsman; his message focuses on affection for others, especially for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, expressed by feeding and housing. Jesus' answer to aggression is to present the other cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a method to instruct the assailant; his crime policy indicates that whenever someone steals your outer garment you should give them your pullover also.
The obvious and straightforward reality that the Jesus from scripture requests a kind of extreme compassion concentrated on the impoverished has consistently rendered Christianity something of a scandalous religion: engaging for the masses, but due to its intrinsic extremism requiring to be restrained. During the 1950s it was restrained through watering down – Protestantism was so dominant that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Conflict for the Best Within Us
So I have been inspired to see the determined opposition regarding Trump emerge in this past year. It has served as great solace to participate in developing the movement that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in large quantities in the off-year elections. We will need to continue it, and with identical determination, with American flags during all protests and calls to the best parts in US history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or reject?
America is best defended, essentially, by reference to the highest about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured through connection to that which renders it unique and wonderful, which is the example of Jesus. In all circumstances does it mean acting as if the most negative regarding America and Christianity never occurred; it represents both meekness and faith, a blend that serious American Christians should be comfortable with.
