The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and defining moments – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. In the course of multiple weeks, the US president began displaying all observers his intentions for an ornate dance hall two times larger of the White House and subsequently started independently demolishing the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the current estimate of deaths from his cuts to USAID stands at 600,000 and growing, and recently research predicted his energy policies would cause deaths an additional 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have dared – genuinely, no other president would have conceived – unilaterally destroying major areas of the presidential residence in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of some of the richest Americans, almost all of whom conduct transactions with the government.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the world' toward 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the leader attempt to overturn the old idea about democracy and substitute it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion among Americans who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed throughout the years as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Essentially, they turned a figure of love into a symbol of animosity who blesses specifically the brutality that he criticized in biblical teachings; this change developed at a slower pace, over decades instead of months, yet it remains unsettling through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Christ from my childhood, since in theory the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and since the quickly increasing segment among Americans might have little sense regarding him because they identify as skeptics or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I have no problem with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that exist valuable insights of substantial value in the Christian story.
It is emphatically definitely not the story of a powerful ruler arising; rather, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The child matures in simple surroundings, a working carpenter; his doctrine concerns compassion for fellow humans, specifically for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and protecting. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to turn the other cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a way to educate the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing is that if a person pilfers your coat you ought to provide them your pullover as well.
The evident and straightforward fact that Christ from scripture requests a type of profound affection concentrated on the impoverished has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a scandalous religion: appealing to the general public, but owing to its intrinsic extremism demanding to be restrained. In the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – Protestantism was so prevalent that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Struggle for the Best of Us
Hence I have become heartened to observe the steadfast resistance to Trump emerge during the previous year. It has served as substantial consolation to help build the movement that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and seems to have inspired voters to show up in large quantities during minor elections. We shall require to maintain it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags throughout each rally and calls to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or reject?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, by reference to the finest in US heritage, similar to Christianity is best defended by relationship to what makes it special and wonderful, particularly the pattern of Jesus. In both situations does it mean acting as if the most damaging regarding America and Christian faith did not happen; it represents both modesty and conviction, a blend that committed national faithful should embrace.
