The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and distinctive moments – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of a few weeks, the nation's leader started showing all observers his plans for a lavish reception room double the dimensions of the White House and then began independently demolishing the eastern section to erect it.
He has committed acts 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of deaths resulting from his reductions to USAID is 600,000 and rising, and this week research predicted his energy policies would cause deaths an additional 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No other president would have risked – truly, no other president would have imagined – unilaterally destroying major areas of the executive mansion in order to erect a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of multiple America's wealthiest, the majority of whom maintain dealings with the government.
We went from 'the gentle will obtain the planet' toward 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the president attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion among Americans who wouldn't consider it entirely new. That is those of us – among senior generations close to half – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched over the years as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we learned about into the total contrary of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they transformed an image of love into an icon of hostility who approves exactly the harshness that he condemned in scripture; this change developed more slowly, through multiple decades instead of months, yet it remains disconcerting via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Damaging Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Christ from my upbringing, since in theory Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and since the fastest-growing cadre among Americans might have little sense about him because they identify as skeptics or uncertain individuals or nones. I take no issue with these various perspectives, nor with any other faith; however I believe that there are pearls of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly definitely not the narrative of a mighty king appearing; instead, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to evade undercover officers. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine concerns compassion for fellow humans, particularly for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to offer the other cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a way to educate the assailant; his approach to wrongdoing is that if a person pilfers your coat you ought to provide him your sweater also.
The obvious and straightforward truth that the Jesus in biblical accounts calls for a type of radical love centered on the poor has consistently rendered Christian religion something of a scandalous religion: appealing to the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness needing to be restrained. During the 1950s it was controlled through watering down – Protestantism was so dominant that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Battle for the Best Among Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to observe the determined opposition to Trump emerge over the last twelve months. It has been substantial consolation to help build the movement that has taken to the streets via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated voters to show up in significant amounts during minor elections. We will need to persist with it, and with identical determination, featuring US banners during all protests and appeals to the highest qualities in US history.
We shall be interrogated ... regarding how you welcomed the immigrant? Did you welcome them and receive them or refuse?
America is best defended, to put it differently, through connection to the finest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is best defended through connection to elements that cause it to be unique and beautiful, which is the example of Jesus. In neither case does it imply pretending the most damaging regarding America and religious tradition was nonexistent; it represents both meekness and belief, a combination that serious US believers should embrace.
