The Trump movement's most illuminating and characteristic instances – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most hazardous, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president commenced revealing the public his intentions for a gilded ballroom twice the size compared to the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the eastern section to erect it.
He has done things 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of fatalities due to his slashing to international aid is 600,000 and increasing, and this week a study projected his energy policies would kill another 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No former leader would have attempted – really, no other president would have conceived – independently wrecking large sections of the executive mansion in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the direct cooperation of some of the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which have business with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' toward 'the meek shall die to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the leader attempt to overturn the established notion regarding democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there is one large group within America who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – among senior generations a near majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed throughout the years as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we grew up with into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. Essentially, they turned a figure of affection into an icon of hostility who blesses exactly the harshness that he criticized in biblical teachings; this has happened more gradually, over decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Christ from my upbringing, as conceptually Jesus is the center within Christian belief, and because the fastest-growing cadre within America may possess limited understanding regarding him since they are atheists or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of great price in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly absolutely not the story of a mighty king appearing; conversely, a baby is born to homeless parents in a storage space, who need to rapidly escape to a foreign land to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in simple surroundings, an employed craftsman; his doctrine concerns compassion for other people, specifically for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to violence is to turn the additional cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a means to teach the aggressor; his crime policy states that when an individual takes your jacket you ought to provide the person your additional clothing also.
The apparent and direct reality that the Jesus from scripture advocates for a type of profound affection focused on the impoverished has consistently rendered Christian religion somewhat of a controversial faith: attractive to the general public, but due to its natural unconventionality requiring to be controlled. In the fifties it was controlled via weakening – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Finest Within Us
Hence I have become heartened to observe the determined opposition regarding Trump emerge over the last twelve months. 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 voters to participate in significant amounts in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags at every demonstration and appeals to the finest aspects of American history.
We shall be interrogated ... regarding how you welcomed the immigrant? Did you welcome them and receive them or refuse?
America is best defended, in other words, by reference to the highest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is best defended through connection to that which renders it unique and wonderful, which is the example of the Savior. In both situations does it imply pretending the worst regarding America and Christian faith never occurred; it represents both meekness and conviction, a mixture that committed American Christians should be comfortable with.
