The Trump phenomenon's most telling and defining instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor stupidest, but perhaps its most illuminating – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president began displaying the public his plans for an ornate dance hall two times larger compared to the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the existing assessment of casualties from his cuts to international aid is 600,000 and rising, and this week a study projected his fossil fuel policies would kill another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have risked – genuinely, no previous leader would have imagined – solo demolishing significant portions of the presidential residence in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of numerous America's wealthiest, almost all of whom conduct transactions with the government.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' to 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As confusing as it is to observe the president try to upend the old idea regarding democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who should not find it entirely new. That encompasses people such as ourselves – among senior generations almost a majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched across decades while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we learned about into the complete reverse 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 the Gospel; this change developed at a slower pace, across decades rather than months, yet it remains disturbing through similar means, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
Hence I shall explain the Savior from my childhood, since in theory the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and given that the fastest-growing cadre within America might have little sense of him because they identify as atheists or agnostics or nones. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that contain precious wisdom of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is decidedly not the account of a mighty king arising; conversely, a baby is born to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to another nation to escape undercover officers. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his message focuses on affection for others, particularly for the impoverished – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. Christ's response to violence is to offer the other cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a means to instruct the assailant; his approach to wrongdoing states that when someone steals your jacket you ought to provide them your pullover as well.
The apparent and direct reality that the Savior of the gospels calls for a form of radical love focused on the needy has perpetually caused Christianity somewhat of a scandalous religion: attractive to the masses, but due to its intrinsic extremism needing to be controlled. During the 1950s it was restrained via weakening – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Conflict for the Best of Us
So I have been encouraged to see the steadfast resistance regarding Trump develop in this past year. It has been great solace to assist in constructing the initiative that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged voters to show up in significant amounts in the off-year elections. We will need to persist with it, and in the same spirit, with American flags during all protests and requests to the highest qualities in US history.
We will be questioned ... about how you treated the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or reject?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the highest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is most protected through connection to that which renders it unique and magnificent, specifically the model of Jesus. In all circumstances does it mean pretending the most damaging about the nation and Christianity never occurred; it signifies both meekness and belief, a mixture that committed US believers should embrace.
