The Trump phenomenon's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of a few weeks, the US president started showing the public his designs for a lavish reception room double the dimensions compared to the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the current estimate of fatalities due to his slashing to international aid is 600,000 and rising, and presently a study forecast his fossil fuel policies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – truly, no former commander would have contemplated – solo demolishing large sections of the White House to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of some of America's wealthiest, the majority of whom conduct transactions with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the world' into 'the humble will perish of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the president seek to颠覆 the established notion about democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there exists a significant segment of Americans who should not find it entirely new. That is those of us – among senior generations a near majority – who were educated as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched over the years as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we learned about into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. Fundamentally, they transformed an image of love into a symbol of animosity who approves precisely the cruelties that he denounced in scripture; this has happened more gradually, across decades rather than months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, since in theory Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and since the fastest-growing cadre within America might have little sense of him because they identify as atheists or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that contain precious wisdom of significant worth within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically absolutely not the narrative of a mighty king emerging; rather, a baby is born to displaced parents in a storage space, who must quickly flee to a foreign land to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his message is about love for other people, specifically for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Christ's response to aggression is to turn the additional cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a means to teach the aggressor; his crime policy states that when someone steals your jacket you must offer them your pullover too.
The obvious and straightforward reality that Christ of the gospels calls for a type of radical love centered on the poor has perpetually caused Christian religion something of a provocative belief system: appealing to the masses, but due to its inherent radicalness needing to be restrained. During the 1950s it was restrained through watering down – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it basically blessed current circumstances.
A Battle for the Highest Within Us
Hence I have become encouraged to observe the steadfast resistance to Trump emerge in this past year. It has served as substantial consolation to help build the initiative that has taken to the streets via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged citizens to participate in significant amounts during minor elections. We must have to continue it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners throughout each rally and requests to the best parts of American history.
We will be questioned ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or refuse?
The nation is most protected, to put it differently, by relationship to the finest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is optimally secured by reference to what makes it special and magnificent, particularly the pattern of Jesus. In neither case does it imply acting as if the worst of both America and Christian faith did not happen; it represents both meekness and belief, a combination that committed national faithful ought to accept.
