The Trump phenomenon's most telling and defining occasions – not its most crucial, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of several weeks, the nation's leader commenced revealing everyone his plans for an ornate dance hall twice the size of the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the East Wing to construct it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of deaths resulting from his reductions to international aid stands at 600,000 and rising, and presently an analysis projected his energy policies would result in fatalities another 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have attempted – truly, no former commander would have contemplated – independently wrecking major areas of the presidential residence to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of numerous America's wealthiest, nearly all of which conduct transactions with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' to 'the humble will perish of cholera'
As disorienting as it is to witness the leader try to upend the old idea about democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who wouldn't consider it completely novel. This includes individuals like us – among senior generations almost a majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed over the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we learned about into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they converted a persona of love into an icon of hate who blesses specifically the brutality that he criticized in the Gospel; this change developed more gradually, over decades as opposed to months, but it is nonetheless disturbing via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Christ from my upbringing, since in theory the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and since the fastest-growing cadre within America might have little sense of him because they identify as atheists or agnostics or spiritual independents. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that there are pearls of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably not the account of a powerful ruler appearing; instead, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in a storage space, who must quickly flee to another nation to escape undercover officers. The baby grows up in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his message concerns compassion for other people, specifically for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to turn the additional cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a means to teach the assailant; his method regarding offenses states that when a person pilfers your coat you ought to provide him your sweater also.
The obvious and direct reality that Christ of the gospels requests a kind of radical love concentrated on the poor is what has always made Christian religion something of a controversial faith: appealing to the general public, but because of its inherent radicalness needing to be controlled. In the fifties it was restrained by dilution – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Best Among Us
So I have been heartened to witness the determined opposition against Trump develop in this past year. It has been great solace to participate in developing the campaign that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged voters to participate in large quantities during minor elections. We shall require to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners throughout each rally and calls to the finest aspects within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or refuse?
America is best defended, in other words, by reference to the highest within national tradition, exactly as the Christian faith is most protected by reference to that which renders it unique and beautiful, which is the example of Christ. In both situations does it imply acting as if the most damaging of both America and religious tradition did not happen; it represents both modesty and faith, a combination that committed American Christians should embrace.
