The Trump phenomenon's most telling and distinctive occasions – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor stupidest, but potentially its most enlightening – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of several weeks, the US president commenced revealing all observers his designs for a gilded ballroom double the dimensions compared to the White House and then began independently demolishing the East Wing to erect it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of fatalities from his cuts to foreign assistance is 600,000 and growing, and recently a study predicted his petroleum strategies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have dared – really, no previous leader would have imagined – solo demolishing large sections of the White House in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the direct cooperation of some of the richest Americans, the majority of whom have business with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' to 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the traditional concept about democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there is one large group among Americans who should not find it entirely new. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics a near majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have observed over the years while conservative evangelical congregations converted the Savior we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our understanding of him. Essentially, they turned a figure of affection into an icon of hate who blesses exactly the harshness that he condemned in scripture; this has happened more slowly, through multiple decades rather than months, yet it remains disturbing in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my upbringing, as conceptually Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and because the rapidly expanding group of Americans could have minimal awareness regarding him because they identify as non-believers or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is emphatically absolutely not the story of an authoritative monarch emerging; rather, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to another nation to avoid covert authorities. The infant develops in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his message is about love for others, specifically for the impoverished – and not a sentimental love, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to turn the other cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a method to instruct the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing is that if someone steals your outer garment you must offer the person your additional clothing as well.
The obvious and clear fact that the Savior in biblical accounts advocates for a form of radical love concentrated on the impoverished has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a provocative belief system: appealing to the masses, but due to its inherent radicalness demanding to be restrained. During the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it practically baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Highest of Us
So I have been inspired to observe the steadfast resistance to Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has provided significant comfort to assist in constructing the initiative that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated citizens to participate in significant amounts during minor elections. We shall require to persist with it, and with identical determination, featuring US banners at every demonstration and requests to the best parts of American history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or refuse?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the finest about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is most protected through connection to that which renders it unique and wonderful, which is the example of Christ. In both situations does it mean pretending the most damaging of both America and religious tradition never occurred; it represents both meekness and belief, a combination that serious American Christians should embrace.
