The Trump movement's most telling and defining occasions – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of multiple weeks, the American president started showing everyone his intentions for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions compared to the White House and then began independently demolishing the East Wing portion to erect it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the existing assessment of casualties due to his slashing to international aid amounts to 600,000 and growing, and presently a study predicted his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have dared – truly, no former commander would have conceived – unilaterally destroying large sections of the executive mansion to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, almost all of whom have business with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the gentle will obtain the Earth' into 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the chief executive try to upend the old idea of democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment of Americans who should not find it completely novel. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we grew up with into the total contrary of who we understood him to be. Essentially, they turned a figure of compassion into a figure of animosity who blesses specifically the brutality that he condemned in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more gradually, across decades instead of months, yet it remains disconcerting via comparable methods, a bewildering emotional blow for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, because theoretically the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and given that the quickly increasing segment within America might have little sense about him since they are non-believers or doubters or nones. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with different religions; but I do think that there are pearls of great price within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically not the narrative of a mighty king emerging; conversely, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a storage space, who must quickly flee to a foreign land to evade secret police. The child matures in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his teaching is about love for fellow humans, particularly for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. The Savior's reaction to violence is to offer the other cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a method to educate the assailant; his approach to wrongdoing indicates that whenever someone steals your outer garment you ought to provide the person your additional clothing as well.
The obvious and direct fact that the Jesus from scripture calls for a kind of profound affection concentrated on the needy has perpetually caused Christianity something of a provocative belief system: attractive to the general public, but due to its intrinsic extremism requiring to be contained. In the 1950s it was restrained via weakening – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Finest Among Us
Hence I have become heartened to observe the steadfast resistance against Trump develop during the previous year. It has provided substantial consolation to assist in constructing the campaign that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to turn out in significant amounts in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags at every demonstration and requests to the best parts within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or reject?
America is best defended, essentially, through connection to the best about American history, just as Christianity is most protected through connection to what makes it special and wonderful, which is the example of Christ. In both situations does it imply pretending the most damaging of both America and Christian faith did not happen; it means both humility and faith, a combination that committed national faithful ought to accept.
