The Trump phenomenon's most telling and characteristic occasions – not its most crucial, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of multiple weeks, the US president started showing the public his intentions for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions of the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to erect it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of casualties resulting from his reductions to USAID is 600,000 and growing, and recently a study forecast his energy policies would kill an additional 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No former leader would have attempted – truly, no previous leader would have conceived – independently wrecking significant portions of the White House to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, the majority of whom conduct transactions with public institutions.
We went from 'the gentle will obtain the world' to 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As confusing as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the established notion of democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there is one large group within America who might not perceive it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics close to half – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have witnessed over the years as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we were raised with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they turned a figure of affection into an icon of animosity who approves exactly the harshness that he denounced in biblical teachings; this has happened more gradually, across decades instead of months, however it is still disturbing via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Hence I shall explain the Christ from my childhood, because theoretically Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and given that the fastest-growing cadre of Americans could have minimal awareness about him since they are non-believers or doubters or nones. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably absolutely not the narrative of a mighty king arising; conversely, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to evade undercover officers. The infant develops in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his message is about love for others, specifically for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and sheltering. Jesus' answer to hostility is to offer the additional cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a means to instruct the attacker; his crime policy is that if someone steals your coat you should give them your pullover also.
The evident and straightforward truth that the Jesus in biblical accounts calls for a form of radical love concentrated on the needy has perpetually caused Christianity rather a scandalous religion: attractive to the populace, but because of its intrinsic extremism needing to be controlled. In the 1950s it was restrained via weakening – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it practically baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Best Among Us
Hence I have become heartened to witness the persistent defiance to Trump develop in this past year. It has provided great solace to help build the movement that has protested openly in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated voters to show up in significant amounts during minor elections. We shall require to maintain it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities in US history.
We shall be interrogated ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you receive him and embrace them or refuse?
The nation is most protected, in other words, through connection to the finest in US heritage, just as Christianity is best defended by relationship to what makes it special and magnificent, which is the example of Jesus. In both situations does it imply pretending the most damaging of both America and religious tradition did not happen; it means both humility and conviction, a blend that committed US believers should embrace.
