The Trump movement's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor stupidest, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of multiple weeks, the US president commenced revealing everyone his intentions for a lavish reception room double the dimensions of the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the East Wing to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the existing assessment of deaths from his cuts to USAID stands at 600,000 and increasing, and this week research predicted his petroleum strategies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No previous president would have attempted – truly, no former commander would have imagined – solo demolishing large sections of the White House to build a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of multiple America's wealthiest, the majority of whom have business with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the gentle will obtain the Earth' toward 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the chief executive attempt to overturn the established notion about democracy and replace it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment among Americans who should not find it completely novel. This includes individuals like us – among senior generations a near majority – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched over the years while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we were raised with into the complete reverse of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they transformed an image of compassion into an icon of hate who blesses exactly the harshness that he condemned in biblical teachings; this change developed more gradually, through multiple decades as opposed to months, yet it remains disturbing in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, since in theory Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and because the quickly increasing segment among Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him as they consider themselves non-believers or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with different religions; but I do think that contain precious wisdom of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is decidedly definitely not the story of an authoritative monarch appearing; rather, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a garage, who must quickly flee to another nation to escape secret police. The child matures in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his doctrine is about love for other people, specifically for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to violence is to turn the other cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a way to teach the assailant; his approach to wrongdoing states that when an individual takes your outer garment you ought to provide the person your additional clothing too.
The obvious and clear fact that the Savior in biblical accounts calls for a kind of radical love focused on the needy has perpetually caused Christian religion something of a controversial faith: appealing to the populace, but owing to its intrinsic extremism demanding to be controlled. During the 1950s it was contained via weakening – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Struggle for the Highest of Us
So I have been heartened to observe the determined opposition against Trump arise in this past year. It has served as significant comfort to help build the campaign that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in significant amounts in the off-year elections. We must have to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, displaying national flags throughout each rally and requests to the best parts within national heritage.
We're going to be asked ... about how you treated the immigrant? Did you receive him and welcome him or reject?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, through connection to the best in US heritage, similar to Christianity is best defended by reference to that which renders it special and wonderful, which is the example of Jesus. In both situations does it mean acting as if the most negative of both America and Christian faith did not happen; it signifies both modesty and conviction, a blend that serious American Christians should be comfortable with.
