The Trump movement's most illuminating and defining moments – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of several weeks, the American president commenced revealing everyone his designs for an ornate dance hall twice the size of the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to build it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the present calculation of fatalities resulting from his reductions to USAID amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and recently an analysis forecast his fossil fuel policies would kill an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have dared – really, no former commander would have conceived – independently wrecking large sections of the presidential residence to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of some of the richest Americans, almost all of whom maintain dealings with public institutions.
We moved from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' to 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the leader try to upend the established notion regarding democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion within America who might not perceive it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us – in older age cohorts a near majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed over the years as politically conservative religious groups converted the Savior we grew up with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. Essentially, they turned a figure of affection into an icon of animosity who blesses specifically the brutality that he condemned in scripture; this has happened at a slower pace, across decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless unsettling in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Savior from my upbringing, because theoretically Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and because the quickly increasing segment within America may possess limited understanding of him since they are atheists or doubters or nones. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; but I do think that contain precious wisdom of significant worth in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically not the narrative of a powerful ruler arising; conversely, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to a foreign land to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his doctrine is about love for other people, especially for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but tangible care, expressed by feeding and sheltering. Jesus' answer to hostility is to offer the other cheek – not as an act of submissive tolerance, but as a means to educate the aggressor; his approach to wrongdoing states that when an individual takes your coat you must offer them your pullover also.
The obvious and straightforward fact that the Jesus of the gospels requests a form of extreme compassion concentrated on the poor has consistently rendered Christianity somewhat of a provocative belief system: attractive to the masses, but owing to its intrinsic extremism requiring to be controlled. In the fifties it was controlled via weakening – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Highest Within Us
So I have been heartened to observe the persistent defiance against Trump arise in this past year. It has served as significant comfort to assist in constructing the campaign that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to show up in large quantities in interim political contests. We must have to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags during all protests and requests to the best parts of American history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or reject?
The country is optimally secured, essentially, by relationship to the highest about American history, just as Christianity is best defended by relationship to what makes it special and wonderful, which is the example of Christ. In all circumstances does it imply acting as if the most negative of both America and religious tradition never occurred; it represents both meekness and belief, a mixture that serious American Christians should be comfortable with.
