The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and characteristic occasions – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. In the course of multiple weeks, the American president began displaying all observers his plans for a lavish reception room double the dimensions compared to the White House and then began unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the existing assessment of fatalities due to his slashing to USAID amounts to 600,000 and growing, and presently a study forecast his fossil fuel policies would kill another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – really, no other president would have imagined – unilaterally destroying large sections of the White House to build a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of numerous the richest Americans, almost all of whom conduct transactions with the government.
We went from 'the humble will receive the planet' toward 'the gentle will succumb of cholera'
As confusing as it is to watch the chief executive attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and replace it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment of Americans who wouldn't consider it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – within elder demographics a near majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we grew up with into the complete reverse of who we understood him to be. Essentially, they turned a figure of affection into a symbol of animosity who approves specifically the brutality that he condemned in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more slowly, through multiple decades instead of months, however it is still unsettling via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my childhood, since in theory the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and since the quickly increasing segment of Americans could have minimal awareness of him since they are non-believers or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically absolutely not the story of a powerful ruler appearing; instead, a baby is born to homeless parents in a storage space, who must quickly flee to another nation to escape undercover officers. The baby grows up in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his teaching focuses on affection for fellow humans, specifically for the impoverished – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to turn the additional cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a method to teach the assailant; his crime policy is that if someone steals your coat you ought to provide him your sweater as well.
The obvious and clear truth that the Jesus from scripture advocates for a kind of radical love centered on the impoverished has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a provocative belief system: attractive to the populace, but due to its natural unconventionality demanding to be contained. During the 1950s it was contained by dilution – Protestantism was so widespread that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Finest Within Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to witness the determined opposition against Trump arise during the previous year. It has served as great solace to participate in developing the movement that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged citizens to turn out in significant amounts in interim political contests. We shall require to maintain it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags during all protests and appeals to the finest aspects within national heritage.
We're going to be asked ... regarding how you welcomed the immigrant? Did you receive him and welcome him or refuse?
America is best defended, to put it differently, by relationship to the highest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is best defended by relationship to what makes it unique and beautiful, specifically the model of the Savior. In all circumstances does it imply acting as if the most negative of both America and Christian faith never occurred; it means both modesty and belief, a mixture that genuine American Christians ought to accept.
