The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and defining moments – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of a few weeks, the American president commenced revealing everyone his plans for an ornate dance hall two times larger of the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to erect it.
He has committed acts ten thousand times worse – the present calculation of fatalities due to his slashing to USAID amounts to 600,000 and growing, and presently a study predicted his fossil fuel policies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have attempted – really, no other president would have contemplated – independently wrecking significant portions of the executive mansion to build a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of some of the richest Americans, the majority of whom maintain dealings with the government.
We went from 'the gentle will obtain the planet' into 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the chief executive try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there is one large group of Americans who might not perceive it totally unfamiliar. That encompasses people such as ourselves – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were educated as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched over the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we learned about into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Essentially, they turned a figure of affection into a figure of hostility who approves precisely the cruelties that he denounced in biblical teachings; this change developed more gradually, over decades instead of months, however it is still disconcerting through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Damaging Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Savior that I grew up with, since in theory the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and given that the rapidly expanding group within America may possess limited understanding about him because they identify as non-believers or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that exist valuable insights of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably definitely not the narrative of a powerful ruler arising; instead, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in a storage space, who must quickly flee to a foreign land to avoid covert authorities. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his teaching concerns compassion for other people, specifically for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and protecting. Jesus' answer to violence is to offer the opposite cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a way to educate the assailant; his approach to wrongdoing states that when an individual takes your outer garment you ought to provide them your pullover also.
The apparent and clear truth that the Savior in biblical accounts requests a type of radical love concentrated on the impoverished is what has always made the Christian faith somewhat of a controversial faith: attractive to the masses, but due to its inherent radicalness requiring to be restrained. During the 1950s it was contained via weakening – Protestantism was so prevalent that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Highest Among Us
So I have been heartened to see the determined opposition against Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has been significant comfort to help build the initiative that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired citizens to participate in significant amounts in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, with American flags at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities of American history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or reject?
America is best defended, to put it differently, by reference to the best about American history, just as Christianity is best defended through connection to that which renders it unique and magnificent, specifically the model of Christ. In all circumstances does it mean feigning the most negative regarding America and religious tradition did not happen; it means both modesty and belief, a combination that committed national faithful should embrace.
