The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and defining instances – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – came earlier this autumn. In the course of multiple weeks, the American president started showing everyone his plans for an ornate dance hall two times larger than the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing to erect it.
He has committed acts 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of fatalities from his cuts to international aid stands at 600,000 and rising, and recently a study projected his fossil fuel policies would kill 1.3 million more. However nothing as distinctive. No previous president would have dared – really, no other president would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying major areas of the executive mansion to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of some of the richest Americans, almost all of whom have business with federal agencies.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' to 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the established notion about democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there is one large group within America who might not perceive it completely novel. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we grew up with into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they turned a figure of affection into an icon of hostility who approves precisely the cruelties that he denounced in scripture; this change developed more slowly, across decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless unsettling in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my upbringing, because theoretically Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and given that the quickly increasing segment of Americans might have little sense of him since they are skeptics or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I take no issue with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; but I do think that contain precious wisdom of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly definitely not the narrative of a mighty king arising; conversely, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to escape undercover officers. The baby grows up in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine focuses on affection for fellow humans, especially for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and protecting. Jesus' answer to hostility is to turn the other cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a way to teach the assailant; his approach to wrongdoing states that when an individual takes your outer garment you must offer the person your additional clothing as well.
The obvious and straightforward truth that the Savior from scripture calls for a kind of radical love focused on the needy is what has always made the Christian faith somewhat of a provocative belief system: appealing to the populace, but because of its intrinsic extremism requiring to be controlled. In the fifties it was controlled by dilution – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Struggle for the Highest Within Us
Hence I have become heartened to see the steadfast resistance regarding Trump develop in this past year. It has provided great solace to participate in developing the campaign that has taken to the streets via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated voters to participate in large quantities during minor elections. We must have to maintain it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags at every demonstration and appeals to the highest qualities of American history.
We're going to be asked ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or reject?
America is best defended, in other words, by relationship to the highest within national tradition, just as Christianity is optimally secured by reference to what makes it distinctive and magnificent, particularly the pattern of the Savior. In all circumstances does it imply feigning the most negative regarding America and religious tradition did not happen; it means both humility and conviction, a combination that committed US believers ought to accept.
