The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and distinctive moments – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of multiple weeks, the American president commenced revealing all observers his intentions for a lavish reception room twice the size than the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to build it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the current estimate of casualties resulting from his reductions to international aid amounts to 600,000 and growing, and recently research forecast his fossil fuel policies would kill an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have dared – truly, no previous leader would have imagined – solo demolishing significant portions of the executive mansion in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, nearly all of which have business with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the gentle will obtain the world' into 'the meek shall die to cholera'
As confusing as it is to watch the president attempt to overturn the established notion of democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there exists a significant segment within America who wouldn't consider it completely novel. This includes individuals like us – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we grew up with into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they transformed an image of love into a symbol of hostility who approves precisely the cruelties that he denounced in scripture; this has happened at a slower pace, across decades as opposed to months, however it is still disconcerting in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Damaging Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Christ from my childhood, as conceptually the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and since the fastest-growing cadre within America could have minimal awareness regarding him since they are atheists or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I take no issue with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that there are pearls of great price within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically definitely not the narrative of a powerful ruler emerging; conversely, a baby is born to homeless parents in a storage space, who must quickly flee to a foreign land to escape covert authorities. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his message concerns compassion for others, particularly for the impoverished – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to turn the additional cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his crime policy states that when an individual takes your coat you must offer the person your additional clothing too.
The obvious and direct fact that the Jesus from scripture calls for a type of profound affection focused on the needy has consistently rendered Christian religion rather a controversial faith: appealing to the masses, but because of its inherent radicalness needing to be controlled. During the 1950s it was controlled through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Best of Us
Hence I have become inspired to witness the determined opposition regarding Trump develop in this past year. It has been great solace to participate in developing the campaign that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated voters to participate in significant amounts in interim political contests. We will need to persist with it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners at every demonstration and calls to the best parts within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you receive him and welcome him or not?
America is best defended, to put it differently, through connection to the highest in US heritage, just as Christianity is best defended through connection to what makes it special and magnificent, particularly the pattern of Christ. In both situations does it imply feigning the worst of both America and Christianity was nonexistent; it signifies both modesty and conviction, a blend that serious American Christians should embrace.
