The Trump movement's most illuminating and distinctive instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of a few weeks, the nation's leader started showing the public his designs for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions than the White House and then began solo dismantling the eastern section to construct it.
He has done things 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of fatalities from his cuts to foreign assistance stands at 600,000 and rising, and recently a study projected his fossil fuel policies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have risked – really, no former commander would have imagined – independently wrecking large sections of the presidential residence to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of some of the richest Americans, almost all of whom have business with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' into 'the meek shall die to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the chief executive attempt to overturn the established notion regarding democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there is one large group of Americans who wouldn't consider it completely novel. That encompasses people such as ourselves – among senior generations close to half – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed over the years as rightwing evangelical churches transformed the Christ we grew up with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they transformed an image of compassion into an icon of animosity who endorses exactly the harshness that he condemned in biblical teachings; this change developed at a slower pace, over decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting through similar means, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my childhood, since in theory Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and because the fastest-growing cadre within America could have minimal awareness of him because they identify as atheists or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically absolutely not the story of a powerful ruler arising; instead, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to evade covert authorities. The baby grows up in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his teaching is about love for others, especially for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and housing. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to present the opposite cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a method to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses is that if an individual takes your jacket you must offer him your sweater too.
The apparent and direct fact that the Savior from scripture requests a form of radical love focused on the impoverished has perpetually caused Christian religion somewhat of a scandalous religion: engaging for the general public, but due to its natural unconventionality needing to be controlled. In the fifties it was contained via weakening – Protestantism was so prevalent that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Highest of Us
Hence I have become encouraged to witness the steadfast resistance to Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has provided great solace to assist in constructing the campaign that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired voters to show up in numbers during minor elections. We will need to maintain it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags at every demonstration and appeals to the finest aspects of American history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or not?
The nation is most protected, to put it differently, by reference to the highest within national tradition, exactly as the Christian faith is best defended through connection to elements that cause it to be distinctive and magnificent, specifically the model of the Savior. In both situations does it mean acting as if the worst regarding America and Christian faith did not happen; it means both meekness and conviction, a mixture that serious national faithful should be comfortable with.
