The Trump movement's most telling and characteristic occasions – not its most crucial, nor cruelest, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of a few weeks, the American president commenced revealing all observers his plans for a gilded ballroom twice the size than the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has performed deeds ten thousand times worse – the existing assessment of fatalities due to his slashing to USAID stands at 600,000 and rising, and presently research projected his energy policies would kill another 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have attempted – really, no former commander would have conceived – solo demolishing large sections of the presidential residence to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of multiple America's wealthiest, the majority of whom maintain dealings with public institutions.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' to 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to witness the chief executive try to upend the established notion of democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there is one large group of Americans who should not find it completely novel. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have observed throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we were raised with into the total contrary of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they converted a persona of compassion into an icon of hate who blesses exactly the harshness that he condemned in biblical teachings; this has happened at a slower pace, across decades instead of months, yet it remains disturbing through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Jesus from my childhood, because theoretically Jesus is the center within Christian belief, and given that the rapidly expanding group among Americans may possess limited understanding of him because they identify as non-believers or agnostics or spiritual independents. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of great price within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically definitely not the narrative of a powerful ruler appearing; rather, a baby is born to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to a different country to escape secret police. The child matures in humble circumstances, an employed craftsman; his teaching focuses on affection for other people, especially for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Christ's response to hostility is to offer the other cheek – not as an act of submissive tolerance, but as a method to educate the aggressor; his crime policy is that if someone steals your coat you should give them your pullover also.
The evident and direct truth that Christ of the gospels calls for a type of radical love focused on the impoverished has consistently rendered the Christian faith rather a scandalous religion: attractive to the populace, but owing to its intrinsic extremism demanding to be controlled. During the 1950s it was controlled through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so prevalent that it essentially sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Best of Us
So I have been encouraged to see the persistent defiance regarding Trump develop during the previous year. It has served as substantial consolation to assist in constructing the movement that has demonstrated publicly in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated citizens to participate in large quantities in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags throughout each rally and calls to the best parts within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the immigrant? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or not?
The nation is most protected, to put it differently, through connection to the best about American history, just as Christianity is best defended through connection to elements that cause it to be distinctive and wonderful, which is the example of the Savior. In neither case does it mean pretending the most negative of both America and Christianity never occurred; it signifies both meekness and belief, a mixture that genuine national faithful should be comfortable with.
