The Trump movement's most illuminating and characteristic occasions – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most threatening, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. During the period of a few weeks, the American president started showing everyone his plans for a lavish reception room two times larger than the White House and then began independently demolishing the East Wing portion to build it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of deaths resulting from his reductions to USAID is 600,000 and increasing, and presently research projected his fossil fuel policies would kill another 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have dared – genuinely, no former commander would have imagined – independently wrecking large sections of the presidential residence in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of some of the richest Americans, almost all of whom maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the planet' toward 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who might not perceive it entirely new. That is those of us – in older age cohorts close to half – who were brought up within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed across decades as rightwing evangelical churches transformed the Christ we were raised with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. Essentially, they converted a persona of affection into a symbol of animosity who endorses exactly the harshness that he denounced in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more slowly, across decades rather than months, but it is nonetheless disturbing through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Savior from my upbringing, because theoretically the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and because the rapidly expanding group among Americans may possess limited understanding about him because they identify as atheists or agnostics or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of great price in the Christian story.
It is decidedly not the story of a powerful ruler emerging; rather, an infant arrives to displaced parents in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to another nation to escape undercover officers. The baby grows up in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine concerns compassion for others, particularly for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, shown by providing food and sheltering. Jesus' answer to hostility is to present the opposite cheek – not as a demonstration of compliant endurance, but as a means to educate the aggressor; his approach to wrongdoing states that when a person pilfers your jacket you must offer the person your additional clothing as well.
The obvious and clear truth that Christ in biblical accounts advocates for a kind of radical love focused on the poor has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a controversial faith: appealing to the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness demanding to be restrained. In the 1950s it was restrained through watering down – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Best Within Us
Hence I have become encouraged to witness the determined opposition to Trump arise in this past year. It has been great solace to participate in developing the initiative that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and seems to have inspired electorate to show up in large quantities in interim political contests. We shall require to persist with it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners throughout each rally and requests to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you receive him and embrace them or refuse?
America is best defended, to put it differently, by reference to the highest about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured through connection to elements that cause it to be special and beautiful, particularly the pattern of Christ. In both situations does it imply acting as if the most negative regarding America and Christian faith never occurred; it signifies both meekness and conviction, a mixture that serious American Christians should embrace.
