The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and characteristic instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of a few weeks, the US president started showing everyone his intentions for a lavish reception room twice the size of the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to build it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the existing assessment of casualties from his cuts to international aid amounts to 600,000 and rising, and presently research forecast his energy 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 – solo demolishing major areas of the White House in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the enthusiastic participation of some of the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which have business with the government.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the planet' to 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to witness the president attempt to overturn the old idea about democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion among Americans who wouldn't consider it entirely new. That encompasses people such as ourselves – among senior generations close to half – who were brought up within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we learned about into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they transformed an image of affection into an icon of hostility who blesses precisely the cruelties that he denounced in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more gradually, over decades rather than months, however it is still disconcerting via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Savior from my upbringing, because theoretically Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and because the fastest-growing cadre within America might have little sense of him as they consider themselves skeptics or doubters or nones. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with different religions; however I believe that contain precious wisdom of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is emphatically definitely not the account of a powerful ruler appearing; rather, a baby is born to displaced parents in a garage, who must quickly flee to a different country to escape covert authorities. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a working carpenter; his message concerns compassion for fellow humans, specifically for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to present the other cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a method to educate the aggressor; his crime policy states that when a person pilfers your outer garment you should give him your sweater also.
The apparent and straightforward reality that the Jesus from scripture requests a form of radical love centered on the poor has consistently rendered Christianity something of a scandalous religion: appealing to the general public, but because of its natural unconventionality needing to be contained. In the fifties it was controlled via weakening – Protestantism was so dominant that it essentially sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Finest Within Us
So I have been heartened to see the determined opposition to Trump arise during the previous year. It has been substantial consolation to assist in constructing the initiative that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired citizens to show up in numbers in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities in US history.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or not?
America is best defended, to put it differently, by reference to the finest in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is most protected through connection to elements that cause it to be distinctive and magnificent, particularly the pattern of Jesus. In all circumstances does it suggest pretending the worst of both America and Christian faith never occurred; it signifies both meekness and faith, a mixture that serious national faithful should embrace.
