The Trump phenomenon's most telling and distinctive occasions – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of several weeks, the US president began displaying all observers his intentions for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions of the White House and then began unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to erect it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the existing assessment of deaths due to his slashing to foreign assistance amounts to 600,000 and rising, and this week an analysis predicted his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have dared – genuinely, no former commander would have conceived – solo demolishing significant portions of the executive mansion to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, the majority of whom maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the humble will receive the Earth' into 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the chief executive try to upend the established notion of democracy and substitute it with its direct contrary, there is one large group of Americans who wouldn't consider it entirely new. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed across decades while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we were raised with into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they turned a figure of affection into a figure of hostility who blesses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in biblical teachings; this change developed at a slower pace, through multiple decades instead of months, however it is still unsettling in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Damaging Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Savior from my childhood, because theoretically the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and because the rapidly expanding group of Americans might have little sense of him because they identify as non-believers or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that contain precious wisdom of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is decidedly not the story of an authoritative monarch arising; instead, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in a garage, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his doctrine concerns compassion for other people, especially for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. Christ's response to aggression is to offer the other cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his approach to wrongdoing indicates that whenever someone steals your outer garment you must offer him your sweater as well.
The apparent and clear reality that the Savior of the gospels calls for a kind of radical love centered on the impoverished has consistently rendered Christian religion something of a scandalous religion: appealing to the general public, but because of its intrinsic extremism needing to be restrained. During the 1950s it was controlled through watering down – Protestantism was so prevalent that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Best Within Us
So I have been inspired to observe the determined opposition regarding Trump develop in this past year. It has been substantial consolation to assist in constructing the initiative that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged electorate to turn out in significant amounts in the off-year elections. We will need to maintain it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags during all protests and calls to the best parts in US history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or not?
America is best defended, essentially, by reference to the best within national tradition, similar to Christianity is optimally secured by relationship to elements that cause it to be distinctive and wonderful, specifically the model of Christ. In both situations does it suggest acting as if the worst regarding America and Christianity was nonexistent; it signifies both modesty and conviction, a mixture that genuine US believers should be comfortable with.
