The Trump movement's most illuminating and characteristic moments – not its most crucial, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. During the period of several weeks, the US president began displaying the public his intentions for a lavish reception room twice the size of the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the existing assessment of deaths due to his slashing to international aid stands at 600,000 and rising, and recently research forecast his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities an additional 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have dared – truly, no previous leader would have contemplated – independently wrecking major areas of the White House to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of multiple America's wealthiest, almost all of whom have business with the government.
We went from 'the humble will receive the world' into 'the humble will perish of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the chief executive attempt to overturn the established notion regarding democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion within America who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed across decades while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we learned about into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they transformed an image of affection into an icon of animosity who blesses exactly the harshness that he condemned in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more slowly, over decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disturbing in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Savior that I grew up with, because theoretically Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and since the fastest-growing cadre among Americans may possess limited understanding of him as they consider themselves atheists or doubters or nones. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is decidedly definitely not the account of a powerful ruler emerging; rather, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a garage, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to avoid covert authorities. The baby grows up in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine focuses on affection for other people, specifically for the disadvantaged – not simply tender feelings, but tangible care, expressed by feeding and sheltering. Jesus' answer to aggression is to offer the other cheek – not as a demonstration of compliant endurance, but as a method to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses is that if an individual takes your outer garment you must offer the person your additional clothing as well.
The evident and straightforward truth that the Savior from scripture advocates for a form of extreme compassion focused on the poor is what has always made the Christian faith something of a scandalous religion: attractive to the general public, but because of its intrinsic extremism needing to be contained. In the fifties it was restrained through watering down – Protestantism was so prevalent that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Best Within Us
Hence I have become inspired to observe the steadfast resistance regarding Trump arise during the previous year. It has served as significant comfort to assist in constructing the initiative that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged voters to turn out in large quantities during minor elections. We shall require to continue it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and appeals to the finest aspects in US history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and receive them or not?
The country is optimally secured, essentially, through connection to the best within national tradition, just as Christianity is optimally secured by reference to elements that cause it to be unique and magnificent, particularly the pattern of the Savior. In all circumstances does it imply acting as if the most damaging of both America and religious tradition was nonexistent; it signifies both modesty and faith, a blend that serious US believers should embrace.
