The Trump movement's most telling and characteristic occasions – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of several weeks, the US president started showing the public his designs for a gilded ballroom double the dimensions than the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the eastern section to build it.
He has done things 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of deaths from his cuts to foreign assistance amounts to 600,000 and rising, and presently research predicted his fossil fuel policies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have attempted – genuinely, no other president would have conceived – unilaterally destroying large sections of the White House to construct a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of numerous the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which have business with the government.
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 established notion regarding democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment within America who should not find it completely novel. That is those of us – in older age cohorts close to half – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched across decades as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we learned about into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. Essentially, they transformed an image of compassion into a symbol of animosity who blesses exactly the harshness that he denounced in the Gospel; this has happened at a slower pace, across decades as opposed to months, however it is still unsettling via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Jesus from my upbringing, because theoretically Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and given that the fastest-growing cadre within America might have little sense regarding him because they identify as skeptics or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that there are pearls of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically not the story of a mighty king emerging; instead, an infant arrives to displaced parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to escape undercover officers. The child matures in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his message focuses on affection for fellow humans, particularly for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to turn the opposite cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a means to teach the assailant; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever someone steals your outer garment you should give him your sweater also.
The evident and direct reality that the Jesus from scripture calls for a type of profound affection centered on the impoverished has perpetually caused 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 1950s it was restrained by dilution – Protestantism was so prevalent that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Best of Us
Hence I have become inspired to witness the persistent defiance regarding Trump develop in this past year. It has provided great solace to assist in constructing the initiative that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged voters to turn out in large quantities during minor elections. We will need to continue it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags throughout each rally and appeals to the best parts within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and receive them or refuse?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, by reference to the best about American history, just as Christianity is most protected by reference to elements that cause it to be distinctive and wonderful, specifically the model of the Savior. In all circumstances does it suggest feigning the most damaging about the nation and Christianity never occurred; it means both humility and faith, a blend that serious American Christians should be comfortable with.
