Trumpism's most telling and characteristic occasions – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of a few weeks, the nation's leader started showing the public his plans for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions 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 current estimate of casualties resulting from his reductions to USAID amounts to 600,000 and growing, and recently a study forecast his energy policies would kill 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have risked – truly, no previous leader would have conceived – independently wrecking significant portions of the presidential residence in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of multiple the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which have business with the government.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' to 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the chief executive 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 – in older age cohorts a near majority – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched over 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 transformed an image of love into an icon of animosity who approves specifically the brutality that he criticized in scripture; this has happened more slowly, across decades rather than months, however it is still disturbing through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Damaging Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Jesus from my childhood, because theoretically Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and because the quickly increasing segment within America could have minimal awareness regarding him since they are atheists or uncertain individuals or nones. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that there are pearls of substantial value in the Christian story.
It is emphatically absolutely not the account of a mighty king appearing; instead, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to a foreign land to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his teaching focuses on affection for others, particularly for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and housing. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to present the other cheek – not as a demonstration of compliant endurance, but as a means to educate the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing is that if a person pilfers your outer garment you should give him your sweater as well.
The obvious and clear truth that Christ in biblical accounts advocates for a form of radical love focused on the needy has perpetually caused Christianity something of a scandalous religion: appealing to the populace, but due to its inherent radicalness needing to be controlled. During the 1950s it was contained via weakening – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Conflict for the Finest Within Us
Hence I have become heartened to witness the persistent defiance to Trump emerge during the previous year. It has served as great solace to participate in developing the movement that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in large quantities in the off-year elections. We will need to maintain it, and in the same spirit, with American flags throughout each rally and calls to the highest qualities of American history.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you receive him and welcome him or not?
America is best defended, essentially, by reference to the highest about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is most protected by reference to what makes it unique and beautiful, specifically the model of Christ. In neither case does it mean pretending the most negative about the nation and Christianity never occurred; it signifies both humility and faith, a mixture that committed American Christians should be comfortable with.
