The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and defining instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor stupidest, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of several weeks, the American president began displaying the public his plans for a lavish reception room two times larger than the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to construct it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the current estimate of deaths from his cuts to USAID stands at 600,000 and rising, and presently a study projected his fossil fuel policies would kill 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have risked – really, no previous leader would have contemplated – independently wrecking significant portions of the presidential residence in order to erect a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of multiple America's wealthiest, nearly all of which conduct transactions with the government.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the planet' toward 'the meek shall die to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the president attempt to overturn the established notion about democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there exists a significant segment within America who might not perceive it completely novel. That is those of us – among senior generations a near majority – who were brought up within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed over the years as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we were raised with into the total contrary of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they transformed an image of love into a symbol of hostility who approves exactly the harshness that he condemned in the Gospel; this has happened at a slower pace, over decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless unsettling in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, since in theory the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and given that the fastest-growing cadre within America could have minimal awareness regarding him as they consider themselves atheists or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; but I do think that contain precious wisdom of substantial value in the Christian story.
It is decidedly not the story of a mighty king arising; rather, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to escape secret police. The child matures in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine is about love for others, particularly for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to present the opposite cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a method to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever an individual takes your jacket you must offer them your pullover as well.
The obvious and clear truth that Christ in biblical accounts advocates for a form of radical love centered on the impoverished is what has always made the Christian faith something of a controversial faith: attractive to the populace, but owing to its natural unconventionality demanding to be controlled. In the 1950s it was contained by dilution – Protestantism was so widespread that it essentially sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Best Within Us
Hence I have become inspired to see the steadfast resistance to Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has been great solace to assist in constructing the campaign that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and seems to have inspired electorate to turn out in numbers in the off-year elections. We shall require to continue it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags at every demonstration and appeals to the finest aspects within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or reject?
The country is optimally secured, in other words, by reference to the highest about American history, just as Christianity is most protected by reference to elements that cause it to be unique and magnificent, particularly the pattern of the Savior. In all circumstances does it imply feigning the most negative about the nation and religious tradition did not happen; it means both meekness and conviction, a mixture that committed US believers should embrace.
