The Trump phenomenon's most telling and defining moments – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. During the period of a few weeks, the nation's leader started showing all observers his intentions for an ornate dance hall two times larger of the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to build it.
He has done things 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of fatalities from his cuts to USAID is 600,000 and increasing, and recently research projected his energy policies would kill an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – truly, no previous leader would have imagined – solo demolishing major areas of the White House in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of numerous the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the gentle will obtain the world' into 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the leader attempt to overturn the old idea regarding democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment within America who wouldn't consider it entirely new. That is those of us – in older age cohorts close to half – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed across decades while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we grew up with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Essentially, they turned a figure of compassion into a figure of hate who endorses specifically the brutality that he criticized in the Gospel; this has happened at a slower pace, over decades rather than months, however it is still disturbing in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
Hence I shall explain the Savior from my upbringing, since in theory Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and because the rapidly expanding group among Americans might have little sense of him as they consider themselves non-believers or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I take no issue with these various perspectives, nor with any other faith; but I do think that there are pearls of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably definitely not the story of an authoritative monarch appearing; conversely, an infant arrives to displaced parents in a storage space, who need to rapidly escape to another nation to evade covert authorities. The infant develops in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine focuses on affection for other people, particularly for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. Christ's response to aggression is to present the other cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a way to educate the assailant; his crime policy is that if a person pilfers your jacket you should give them your pullover also.
The obvious and direct fact that the Savior from scripture advocates for a form of radical love focused on the impoverished has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a provocative belief system: engaging for the populace, but owing to its inherent radicalness needing to be contained. In the 1950s it was contained by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so prevalent that it basically blessed current circumstances.
A Conflict for the Finest Among Us
Hence I have become encouraged to see the steadfast resistance against Trump arise in this past year. It has provided great solace to help build the initiative that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged voters to show up in large quantities in the off-year elections. We shall require to maintain it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags during all protests and appeals to the best parts in US history.
We shall be interrogated ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you receive him and welcome him or not?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the best in US heritage, just as Christianity is best defended by relationship to elements that cause it to be special and wonderful, specifically the model of the Savior. In neither case does it suggest feigning the most negative of both America and Christianity never occurred; it represents both modesty and belief, a combination that genuine US believers ought to accept.
