The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and distinctive moments – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president started showing all observers his plans for a lavish reception room twice the size than the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the current estimate of fatalities from his cuts to international aid stands at 600,000 and rising, and recently research forecast his fossil fuel policies would kill another 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No previous president would have risked – really, no previous leader would have contemplated – solo demolishing significant portions of the executive mansion to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of some of America's wealthiest, the majority of whom have business with public institutions.
We moved from 'the meek shall inherit the world' into 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who wouldn't consider it completely novel. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts a near majority – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed across decades as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we grew up with into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. Essentially, they converted a persona of love into a figure of hate who endorses precisely the cruelties that he condemned in scripture; this transformation occurred more slowly, over decades instead of months, however it is still disconcerting in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Jesus that I grew up with, because theoretically Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and since the quickly increasing segment among Americans could have minimal awareness about him since they are atheists or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that exist valuable insights of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically not the story of a powerful ruler appearing; instead, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his doctrine focuses on affection for fellow humans, especially for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to turn the opposite cheek – not as an act of submissive tolerance, but as a means to teach the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing states that when a person pilfers your coat you must offer the person your additional clothing also.
The obvious and clear reality that the Savior of the gospels requests a form of profound affection centered on the poor is what has always made the Christian faith rather a provocative belief system: attractive to the populace, but because of its natural unconventionality demanding to be controlled. In the fifties it was contained via weakening – Protestantism was so dominant that it practically baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Best of Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to observe the steadfast resistance against Trump emerge during the previous year. It has provided great solace to assist in constructing the initiative that has taken to the streets via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated electorate to participate in large quantities in interim political contests. We shall require to maintain it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags throughout each rally and requests to the highest qualities in US history.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you receive him and embrace them or reject?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, by relationship to the finest about American history, similar to Christianity is best defended by reference to what makes it special and magnificent, particularly the pattern of Christ. In both situations does it mean acting as if the worst regarding America and religious tradition did not happen; it signifies both meekness and belief, a blend that genuine US believers should be comfortable with.
