The Trump movement's most telling and distinctive instances – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor stupidest, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of several weeks, the US president commenced revealing all observers his plans for a gilded ballroom two times larger compared to the White House and then began solo dismantling the eastern section to erect it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the current estimate of casualties due to his slashing to USAID stands at 600,000 and rising, and recently research predicted his energy policies would result in fatalities another 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No former leader would have risked – genuinely, no former commander would have contemplated – solo demolishing large sections of the executive mansion to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of multiple the richest Americans, the majority of whom conduct transactions with public institutions.
We went from 'the gentle will obtain the planet' to 'the meek shall die to cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the leader attempt to overturn the traditional concept about democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there is one large group among Americans who should not find it entirely new. That is those of us – among senior generations close to half – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched throughout the years as rightwing evangelical churches transformed the Christ we grew up with into exactly the opposite of our understanding of him. Essentially, they turned a figure of love into an icon of animosity who approves precisely the cruelties that he criticized in the Gospel; this has happened more slowly, through multiple decades rather than months, but it is nonetheless disturbing in the same ways, a disorienting gut punch for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Savior from my childhood, as conceptually Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and since the quickly increasing segment of Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him because they identify as atheists or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that there are pearls of great price within Christian narrative.
It is unquestionably absolutely not the account of a mighty king emerging; conversely, 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 modest conditions, a working carpenter; his teaching concerns compassion for fellow humans, specifically for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and housing. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to present the other cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a means to educate the attacker; his crime policy is that if a person pilfers your outer garment you should give the person your additional clothing also.
The evident and clear truth that the Savior in biblical accounts calls for a type of extreme compassion focused on the impoverished has perpetually caused Christianity somewhat of a scandalous religion: appealing to the populace, but because of its natural unconventionality requiring to be contained. In the fifties it was restrained by dilution – Protestantism was so widespread that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Highest of Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to witness the steadfast resistance against Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has served as great solace to participate in developing the movement that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and seems to have inspired electorate to turn out in large quantities in interim political contests. We shall require to maintain it, and with identical determination, with American flags at every demonstration and appeals to the finest aspects in US history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you welcome them and receive them or refuse?
The country is optimally secured, in other words, by relationship to the highest about American history, similar to Christianity is optimally secured by reference to elements that cause it to be unique and beautiful, which is the example of Jesus. In neither case does it mean acting as if the most negative about the nation and Christianity was nonexistent; it represents both humility and faith, a combination that serious US believers should embrace.
