The Trump phenomenon's most telling and distinctive moments – not its most significant, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. During the period of multiple weeks, the American president started showing everyone his intentions for an ornate dance hall twice the size of the White House and subsequently started independently demolishing the East Wing to erect it.
He has done things 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of deaths resulting from his reductions to foreign assistance stands at 600,000 and growing, and recently research forecast his energy policies would kill another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have risked – really, no previous leader would have conceived – independently wrecking large sections of the executive mansion in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of some of America's wealthiest, the majority of whom have business with the government.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' into 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to witness the leader attempt to overturn the traditional concept regarding democracy and substitute it with its direct contrary, there is one large group of Americans who should not find it entirely new. That is those of us – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched across decades 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 affection into an icon of animosity who blesses specifically the brutality that he denounced in biblical teachings; this change developed more gradually, across decades as opposed to months, but it is nonetheless unsettling in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Jesus from my childhood, as conceptually Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and since the quickly increasing segment within America might have little sense about him as they consider themselves skeptics or agnostics or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that contain precious wisdom of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably definitely not the account of a mighty king appearing; conversely, an infant arrives to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to another nation to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his teaching is about love for others, specifically for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and housing. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to present the other cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a way to teach the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing states that when someone steals your jacket you ought to provide him your sweater too.
The apparent and direct fact that Christ from scripture requests a form of profound affection concentrated on the impoverished has consistently rendered the Christian faith somewhat of a scandalous religion: appealing to the general public, but because of its natural unconventionality requiring to be controlled. In the fifties it was contained through watering down – Protestantism was so widespread that it basically blessed current circumstances.
A Struggle for the Finest Among Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to observe the steadfast resistance regarding Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has served as significant comfort to participate in developing the campaign that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in numbers in interim political contests. We must have to maintain it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags throughout each rally and requests to the best parts in US history.
We shall be interrogated ... regarding how you welcomed the immigrant? Did you receive him and welcome him or refuse?
The nation is most protected, in other words, by reference to the highest in US heritage, similar to Christianity is best defended by reference to that which renders it unique and beautiful, specifically the model of Jesus. In neither case does it imply pretending the worst regarding America and Christian faith never occurred; it means both modesty and faith, a mixture that serious US believers should be comfortable with.
