The Trump phenomenon's most telling and distinctive instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor stupidest, but perhaps its most illuminating – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of a few weeks, the US president commenced revealing all observers his designs for a lavish reception room twice the size of the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to build it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of deaths from his cuts to USAID stands at 600,000 and rising, and recently an analysis predicted his petroleum strategies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – really, no other president would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the executive mansion in order to erect a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of multiple the richest Americans, nearly all of which maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We went from 'the humble will receive the planet' toward 'the humble will perish of cholera'
As confusing as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion within America who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts close to half – who were brought up within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed across decades as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they turned a figure of affection into a symbol of animosity who endorses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in biblical teachings; this has happened more slowly, across decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disturbing through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Christ from my childhood, because theoretically Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and given that the quickly increasing segment among Americans may possess limited understanding of him as they consider themselves skeptics or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I take no issue with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is emphatically not the narrative of a mighty king arising; instead, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to escape covert authorities. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his message is about love for other people, particularly for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to violence is to offer the other cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a way to instruct the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing is that if a person pilfers your outer garment you must offer the person your additional clothing also.
The evident and direct truth that Christ in biblical accounts advocates for a form of radical love centered on the poor has perpetually caused Christianity rather a controversial faith: appealing to the populace, but because of its intrinsic extremism needing to be controlled. During the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Highest of Us
Hence I have become encouraged to observe the steadfast resistance regarding Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has provided substantial consolation to assist in constructing the movement that has protested openly in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated voters to turn out in large quantities in interim political contests. We will need to maintain it, and in the same spirit, with American flags throughout each rally and calls to the best parts of American history.
We're going to be asked ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and receive them or refuse?
The nation is most protected, to put it differently, by relationship to the best about American history, similar to Christianity is best defended by relationship to that which renders it distinctive and beautiful, specifically the model of Jesus. In all circumstances does it mean acting as if the most damaging about the nation and religious tradition did not happen; it means both humility and conviction, a blend that serious national faithful ought to accept.
