The Trump movement's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of several weeks, the US president started showing the public his designs for an ornate dance hall twice the size than the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to erect it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the existing assessment of deaths due to his slashing to USAID is 600,000 and growing, and presently an analysis forecast his petroleum strategies would kill an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have risked – truly, no former commander would have contemplated – solo demolishing major areas of the presidential residence to build a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of some of America's wealthiest, the majority of whom maintain dealings with public institutions.
We went from 'the humble will receive the world' toward 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As confusing as it is to watch the chief executive try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion within America who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched over the years as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we learned about into exactly the opposite of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they turned a figure of love into a figure of hate who blesses specifically the brutality that he condemned in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more slowly, over decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Christ from my upbringing, since in theory Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and since the rapidly expanding group of Americans may possess limited understanding about him since they are atheists or uncertain individuals or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with different religions; however I believe that there are pearls of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is decidedly definitely not the narrative of an authoritative monarch appearing; rather, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The child matures in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine concerns compassion for other people, particularly for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, shown by providing food and protecting. Christ's response to aggression is to turn the opposite cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a means to educate the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing states that when a person pilfers your outer garment you must offer him your sweater as well.
The evident and clear fact that the Jesus from scripture calls for a type of radical love centered on the needy is what has always made the Christian faith something of a scandalous religion: engaging for the populace, but due to its inherent radicalness requiring to be controlled. In the fifties it was controlled via weakening – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Battle for the Finest Within Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to see the determined opposition to Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has served as great solace to help build the campaign that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and likely has encouraged voters to turn out in large quantities in the off-year elections. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, with American flags throughout each rally and appeals to the highest qualities of American history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you welcome them and welcome him or reject?
The nation is most protected, in other words, through connection to the best in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured through connection to elements that cause it to be distinctive and beautiful, specifically the model of the Savior. In both situations does it suggest feigning the most damaging about the nation and religious tradition never occurred; it signifies both humility and conviction, a combination that serious national faithful should embrace.
