The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and defining moments – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor stupidest, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of several weeks, the American president commenced revealing the public his designs for a lavish reception room twice the size than the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the eastern section to build it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the current estimate of deaths from his cuts to foreign assistance amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and recently research projected his energy policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have dared – genuinely, no previous leader would have contemplated – independently wrecking large sections of the White House in order to erect a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of some of the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which conduct transactions with federal agencies.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' toward 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the chief executive try to upend the established notion regarding democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there remains a substantial portion within America who might not perceive it completely novel. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were educated as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched over the years as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we were raised with into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. Essentially, they converted a persona of affection into an icon of hostility who approves specifically the brutality that he condemned in the Gospel; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, over decades as opposed to months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting in the same ways, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Savior from my upbringing, because theoretically Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and because the rapidly expanding group among Americans might have little sense of him as they consider themselves atheists or uncertain individuals or nones. I take no issue with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of significant worth within Christian narrative.
It is decidedly definitely not the account of an authoritative monarch emerging; rather, a baby is born to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The child matures in simple surroundings, a working carpenter; his doctrine concerns compassion for other people, especially for the disadvantaged – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and sheltering. Christ's response to violence is to offer the other cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a method to teach the assailant; his crime policy is that if a person pilfers your coat you ought to provide the person your additional clothing also.
The evident and clear fact that the Savior in biblical accounts advocates for a form of extreme compassion centered on the impoverished is what has always made the Christian faith somewhat of a scandalous religion: engaging for the populace, but due to its intrinsic extremism needing to be controlled. During the 1950s it was controlled through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so prevalent that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Conflict for the Highest Among Us
So I have been inspired to see the determined opposition against Trump arise during the previous year. It has served as substantial consolation to assist in constructing the movement that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated electorate to turn out in large quantities in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities in US history.
We're going to be asked ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and receive them or not?
The nation is most protected, essentially, by reference to the highest in US heritage, just as Christianity is best defended through connection to that which renders it special and beautiful, specifically the model of Jesus. In neither case does it mean acting as if the most damaging of both America and religious tradition did not happen; it represents both meekness and conviction, a mixture that committed national faithful should be comfortable with.
