The Trump movement's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most crucial, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. In the course of several weeks, the US president began displaying all observers his intentions for an ornate dance hall twice the size compared to the White House and then began solo dismantling the East Wing to construct it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of fatalities from his cuts to international aid stands at 600,000 and rising, and recently a study forecast his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have dared – genuinely, no previous leader would have imagined – solo demolishing significant portions of the executive mansion to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of some of America's wealthiest, the majority of whom have business with the government.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the planet' to 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As confusing as it is to watch the chief executive attempt to overturn the traditional concept regarding democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there is one large group of Americans who should not find it entirely new. That is those of us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we grew up with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they converted a persona of love into a figure of animosity who endorses specifically the brutality that he criticized in scripture; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, through multiple decades instead of months, yet it remains unsettling through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Savior from my upbringing, since in theory the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and because the fastest-growing cadre within America may possess limited understanding about him as they consider themselves non-believers or agnostics or nones. I have no problem with these various perspectives, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably absolutely not the story of a mighty king appearing; rather, an infant arrives to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to escape covert authorities. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine concerns compassion for fellow humans, particularly for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, shown by providing food and housing. Christ's response to hostility is to offer the opposite cheek – not as a demonstration of compliant endurance, but as a method to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever a person pilfers your jacket you must offer them your pullover as well.
The evident and direct reality that the Jesus of the gospels requests a type of radical love concentrated on the impoverished is what has always made Christian religion somewhat of a scandalous religion: appealing to the populace, but due to its natural unconventionality demanding to be restrained. During the 1950s it was controlled via weakening – Protestantism was so prevalent that it basically blessed current circumstances.
A Conflict for the Finest of Us
So I have been heartened to observe the persistent defiance against Trump develop in this past year. It has provided substantial consolation to assist in constructing the initiative that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired citizens to participate in significant amounts in interim political contests. We will need to maintain it, and with identical determination, featuring US banners at every demonstration and appeals to the finest aspects in US history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you receive him and receive them or refuse?
America is best defended, to put it differently, by relationship to the highest in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured through connection to what makes it unique and magnificent, which is the example of the Savior. In all circumstances does it mean pretending the most damaging about the nation and Christian faith never occurred; it signifies both humility and faith, a blend that serious national faithful ought to accept.
