The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and characteristic instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of a few weeks, the American president commenced revealing the public his designs for a lavish reception room double the dimensions of the White House and then began independently demolishing the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has done things 10,000 times as bad – the present calculation of deaths resulting from his reductions to USAID amounts to 600,000 and rising, and presently research forecast his energy policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. However nothing as distinctive. No other president would have attempted – really, no previous leader would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the presidential residence to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of numerous the nation's most affluent, almost all of whom maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' to 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the leader attempt to overturn the established notion of democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who might not perceive it entirely new. This includes individuals like us – in older age cohorts close to half – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed across decades as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we learned about into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they transformed an image of compassion into an icon of hostility who approves precisely the cruelties that he criticized in scripture; this has happened at a slower pace, through multiple decades as opposed to months, but it is nonetheless disturbing through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, since in theory Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and since the rapidly expanding group within America may possess limited understanding regarding him because they identify as non-believers or doubters or spiritual independents. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of great price in the Christian story.
It is emphatically definitely not the story of a powerful ruler emerging; rather, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in a storage space, who need to rapidly escape to a foreign land to escape secret police. The child matures in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his message focuses on affection for other people, specifically for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and protecting. Jesus' answer to aggression is to offer the opposite cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a means to teach the assailant; his method regarding offenses is that if an individual takes your coat you must offer him your sweater also.
The evident and direct reality that the Savior from scripture calls for a kind of radical love focused on the needy has consistently rendered the Christian faith something of a controversial faith: appealing to the general public, but because of its natural unconventionality demanding to be contained. In the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – Protestantism was so prevalent that it practically baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Finest Within Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to witness the persistent defiance to Trump emerge over the last twelve months. It has served as great solace to participate in developing the movement that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged citizens to show up in numbers during minor elections. We shall require to continue it, and with identical determination, with American flags during all protests and calls to the finest aspects in US history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the immigrant? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or not?
The country is optimally secured, in other words, through connection to the highest in US heritage, just as Christianity is optimally secured by relationship to that which renders it distinctive and wonderful, particularly the pattern of Christ. In both situations does it suggest feigning the most negative of both America and Christianity did not happen; it signifies both humility and conviction, a combination that committed US believers should be comfortable with.
