The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and distinctive moments – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most hazardous, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – came earlier this autumn. In the course of a few weeks, the US president started showing all observers his intentions for an ornate dance hall twice the size of the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of fatalities from his cuts to foreign assistance amounts to 600,000 and rising, and recently an analysis predicted his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have dared – really, no other president would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the executive mansion in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of multiple the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which maintain dealings with public institutions.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' to 'the meek shall die to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the established notion regarding democracy and substitute it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion among Americans who might not perceive it entirely new. This includes individuals like us – among senior generations almost a majority – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have observed throughout the years as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we were raised with into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. Fundamentally, they turned a figure of compassion into an icon of hate who approves exactly the harshness that he denounced in the Gospel; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, through multiple decades rather than months, however it is still disturbing via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my childhood, since in theory Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and because the quickly increasing segment among Americans could have minimal awareness of him because they identify as non-believers or agnostics or nones. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; but I do think that exist valuable insights of great price in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably not the story of a mighty king arising; instead, an infant arrives to displaced parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to evade secret police. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his message focuses on affection for fellow humans, especially for the impoverished – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Christ's response to violence is to offer the opposite cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a way to instruct the aggressor; his method regarding offenses is that if an individual takes your coat you should give the person your additional clothing too.
The obvious and direct truth that Christ from scripture advocates for a kind of profound affection concentrated on the impoverished has consistently rendered the Christian faith something of a controversial faith: attractive to the general public, but due to its natural unconventionality needing to be restrained. In the fifties it was contained through watering down – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Finest Among Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to witness the persistent defiance against Trump develop in this past year. It has provided great solace to participate in developing the initiative that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to show up in large quantities in interim political contests. We must have to continue it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags during all protests and requests to the best parts in US history.
We're going to be asked ... about how you treated the foreigner? Did you receive him and embrace them or reject?
America is best defended, in other words, by reference to the best in US heritage, similar to Christianity is best defended by relationship to what makes it unique and beautiful, specifically the model of Christ. In neither case does it mean feigning the most negative about the nation and religious tradition was nonexistent; it means both humility and faith, a combination that committed American Christians should embrace.
