The Trump movement's most telling and defining occasions – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of multiple weeks, the US president started showing all observers his intentions for a gilded ballroom two times larger of the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the present calculation of casualties from his cuts to foreign assistance stands at 600,000 and growing, and this week an analysis forecast his energy policies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – really, no previous leader would have imagined – solo demolishing significant portions of the executive mansion to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of numerous the richest Americans, the majority of whom maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' toward 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As confusing as it is to observe the leader try to upend the established notion regarding democracy and substitute it with its direct contrary, there is one large group among Americans who should not find it completely novel. That is those of us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched across decades while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we were raised with into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they converted a persona of love into a symbol of hate who approves precisely the cruelties that he condemned in the Gospel; this change developed at a slower pace, across decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Savior from my upbringing, as conceptually the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and since the rapidly expanding group among Americans might have little sense about him as they consider themselves atheists or agnostics or nones. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; but I do think that there are pearls of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly not the account of an authoritative monarch appearing; instead, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to another nation to evade secret police. The infant develops in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his doctrine concerns compassion for others, specifically for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and housing. Christ's response to aggression is to present the opposite cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a way to teach the assailant; his method regarding offenses states that when a person pilfers your coat you ought to provide the person your additional clothing also.
The apparent and straightforward reality that the Jesus in biblical accounts advocates for a type of radical love concentrated on the needy has perpetually caused Christianity somewhat of a controversial faith: appealing to the masses, but due to its intrinsic extremism demanding to be restrained. In the 1950s it was contained via weakening – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Struggle for the Finest Within Us
Hence I have become encouraged to see the persistent defiance against Trump develop in this past year. It has served as great solace to participate in developing the initiative that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to participate in significant amounts in the off-year elections. We will need to continue it, and with identical determination, featuring US banners during all protests and requests to the best parts of American history.
We're going to be asked ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or not?
America is best defended, to put it differently, through connection to the highest in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured through connection to elements that cause it to be special and magnificent, specifically the model of Jesus. In all circumstances does it imply pretending the most negative about the nation and Christian faith never occurred; it signifies both humility and conviction, a combination that serious national faithful should be comfortable with.
