The Trump movement's most illuminating and defining instances – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president commenced revealing everyone his plans for a lavish reception room twice the size of the White House and subsequently started independently demolishing the East Wing portion to erect it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the current estimate of casualties due to his slashing to foreign assistance amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and presently research forecast his petroleum strategies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have risked – really, no previous leader would have contemplated – independently wrecking significant portions of the executive mansion to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of some of America's wealthiest, nearly all of which conduct transactions with public institutions.
We moved from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' to 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As confusing as it is to watch the president attempt to overturn the established notion about democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there is one large group among Americans who should not find it entirely new. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched throughout the years as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we grew up with into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they converted a persona of affection into an icon of hate who blesses specifically the brutality that he condemned in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more gradually, over decades rather than months, however it is still disconcerting via comparable methods, a bewildering emotional blow for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Therefore allow me to outline the Savior that I grew up with, since in theory Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and since the quickly increasing segment among Americans may possess limited understanding of him since they are non-believers or agnostics or spiritual independents. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of great price in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably not the account of an authoritative monarch emerging; rather, a baby is born to displaced parents in a garage, who must quickly flee to a different country to avoid secret police. The baby grows up in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his teaching is about love for others, specifically for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Christ's response to hostility is to turn the other cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a way to instruct the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing is that if someone steals your coat you must offer him your sweater also.
The obvious and straightforward fact that the Jesus from scripture advocates for a kind of profound affection centered on the needy is what has always made Christian religion somewhat of a provocative belief system: appealing to the masses, but due to its inherent radicalness needing to be controlled. During the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it basically blessed current circumstances.
A Struggle for the Highest Among Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to witness the persistent defiance to Trump arise during the previous year. It has served as substantial consolation to help build the campaign that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged electorate to turn out in large quantities in interim political contests. We must have to persist with it, and with identical determination, featuring US banners during all protests and requests to the highest qualities of American history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you welcome them and embrace them or reject?
The nation is most protected, in other words, through connection to the highest within national tradition, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured by relationship to what makes it unique and magnificent, particularly the pattern of Jesus. In neither case does it mean acting as if the most damaging regarding America and Christianity never occurred; it represents both humility and conviction, a mixture that serious American Christians should embrace.
