The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and distinctive occasions – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – came earlier this autumn. In the course of multiple weeks, the nation's leader began displaying the public his designs for a lavish reception room twice the size than the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the East Wing to erect it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the current estimate of fatalities due to his slashing to foreign assistance amounts to 600,000 and growing, and presently a study forecast his energy policies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have risked – really, no previous leader would have imagined – unilaterally destroying major areas of the White House in order to erect a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of some of America's wealthiest, nearly all of which have business with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' into 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader attempt to overturn the established notion about democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion among Americans who should not find it completely novel. That is those of us – in older age cohorts close to half – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have witnessed throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we learned about into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. Fundamentally, they converted a persona of affection into an icon of hate who blesses specifically the brutality that he condemned in the Gospel; this change developed more gradually, through multiple decades as opposed to months, however it is still disconcerting via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Christ that I grew up with, because theoretically Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and given that the rapidly expanding group among Americans could have minimal awareness about him as they consider themselves non-believers or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that exist valuable insights of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly definitely not the story of an authoritative monarch emerging; rather, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to another nation to evade covert authorities. The infant develops in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his message focuses on affection for fellow humans, particularly for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and housing. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to present the additional cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a means to teach the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing indicates that whenever an individual takes your coat you should give him your sweater also.
The apparent and clear truth that Christ from scripture advocates for a form of extreme compassion centered on the impoverished has consistently rendered Christian religion somewhat of a controversial faith: appealing to the populace, but owing to its inherent radicalness needing to be controlled. During the 1950s it was controlled via weakening – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Finest of Us
Hence I have become encouraged to observe the steadfast resistance against Trump emerge over the last twelve months. It has served as substantial consolation to help build the initiative that has protested openly in rally after rally, and seems to have inspired electorate to turn out in significant amounts in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners during all protests and requests to the highest qualities of American history.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the foreigner? Did you receive him and embrace them or reject?
The nation is most protected, in other words, by relationship to the best within national tradition, just as Christianity is best defended by relationship to what makes it special and magnificent, specifically the model of the Savior. In all circumstances does it imply acting as if the most damaging about the nation and Christian faith never occurred; it signifies both modesty and belief, a combination that serious national faithful should embrace.
