The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and distinctive instances – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president commenced revealing everyone his designs for an ornate dance hall two times larger than the White House and subsequently started independently demolishing the eastern section to construct it.
He has committed acts 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of fatalities resulting from his reductions to foreign assistance stands at 600,000 and increasing, and this week an analysis projected his petroleum strategies would kill another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have attempted – genuinely, no other president would have conceived – unilaterally destroying major areas of the executive mansion to build a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, almost all of whom have business with the government.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' to 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the president try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment within America who wouldn't consider it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed across decades as rightwing evangelical churches transformed the Christ we grew up with into exactly the opposite of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they transformed an image of compassion into a symbol of animosity who endorses precisely the cruelties that he condemned in scripture; this transformation occurred more gradually, through multiple decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Christ that I grew up with, as conceptually the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and given that the rapidly expanding group within America might have little sense about him as they consider themselves atheists or agnostics or spiritual independents. I have no problem with these various perspectives, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably definitely not the account of an authoritative monarch emerging; conversely, a baby is born to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to evade secret police. The infant develops in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine concerns compassion for others, particularly for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and housing. Christ's response to aggression is to offer the opposite cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a means to instruct the attacker; his method regarding offenses is that if an individual takes your coat you should give him your sweater too.
The obvious and straightforward fact that the Jesus from scripture advocates for a form of extreme compassion centered on the poor has perpetually caused Christian religion somewhat of a controversial faith: appealing to the masses, but due to its inherent radicalness needing to be controlled. During the 1950s it was contained by dilution – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Finest of Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to see the persistent defiance regarding Trump emerge over the last twelve months. It has provided significant comfort to help build the movement that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated electorate to show up in numbers in the off-year elections. We shall require to maintain it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags at every demonstration and requests to the finest aspects in US history.
We're going to be asked ... about how you treated the immigrant? Did you welcome them and embrace them or refuse?
America is best defended, essentially, by relationship to the best in US heritage, similar to Christianity is optimally secured through connection to that which renders it unique and beautiful, specifically the model of Christ. In both situations does it suggest acting as if the most negative regarding America and Christianity did not happen; it means both modesty and belief, a combination that genuine US believers should embrace.
