The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and defining instances – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. In the course of multiple weeks, the US president began displaying all observers his plans for an ornate dance hall two times larger than the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to erect it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the present calculation of fatalities due to his slashing to foreign assistance stands at 600,000 and growing, and recently an analysis predicted his petroleum strategies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have attempted – truly, no former commander would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the White House in order to erect a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, nearly all of which conduct transactions with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the planet' to 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader seek to颠覆 the old idea of democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there is one large group among Americans who might not perceive it completely novel. That is those of us – among senior generations almost a majority – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched over the years as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we learned about into the complete reverse of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they turned a figure of love into an icon of hostility who endorses exactly the harshness that he criticized in biblical teachings; this has happened more slowly, over decades rather than months, yet it remains disconcerting via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my childhood, since in theory the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and because the quickly increasing segment of Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him since they are non-believers or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that contain precious wisdom of great price in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly definitely not the account of an authoritative monarch arising; rather, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in a garage, who must quickly flee to a foreign land to evade secret police. The infant develops in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his teaching focuses on affection for others, especially for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. Jesus' answer to violence is to present the other cheek – not as a demonstration of compliant endurance, but as a means to educate the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing indicates that whenever someone steals your coat you ought to provide the person your additional clothing as well.
The apparent and direct reality that Christ from scripture requests a form of profound affection focused on the impoverished has consistently rendered Christian religion somewhat of a provocative belief system: appealing to the general public, but due to its natural unconventionality needing to be contained. In the 1950s it was contained through watering down – Protestantism was so dominant that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Battle for the Best of Us
So I have been encouraged to witness the persistent defiance against Trump emerge in this past year. It has served as substantial consolation to participate in developing the initiative that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and likely has encouraged citizens to participate in large quantities during minor elections. We will need to persist with it, and through comparable resolve, displaying national flags during all protests and requests to the best parts in US history.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the immigrant? Did you receive him and embrace them or reject?
America is best defended, in other words, by relationship to the finest about American history, similar to Christianity is most protected through connection to what makes it unique and wonderful, particularly the pattern of Jesus. In all circumstances does it suggest acting as if the most damaging of both America and Christianity did not happen; it means both modesty and belief, a mixture that serious US believers ought to accept.
