The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and characteristic occasions – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of multiple weeks, the nation's leader began displaying all observers his designs for a lavish reception room double the dimensions compared to the White House and then began solo dismantling the eastern section to erect it.
He has committed acts ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of casualties due to his slashing to international aid is 600,000 and growing, and this week research predicted his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No other president would have risked – truly, no former commander would have conceived – independently wrecking large sections of the executive mansion to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of numerous America's wealthiest, almost all of whom have business with public institutions.
We went from 'the gentle will obtain the world' into 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader attempt to overturn the established notion of democracy and replace it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment of Americans who might not perceive it completely novel. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched across decades as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Essentially, they converted a persona of compassion into a symbol of animosity who approves specifically the brutality that he denounced in the Gospel; this has happened more slowly, across decades instead of months, yet it remains unsettling in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Jesus from my upbringing, since in theory Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and since the fastest-growing cadre within America may possess limited understanding regarding him since they are skeptics or agnostics or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly not the narrative of a powerful ruler emerging; rather, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in a storage space, who must quickly flee to a different country to avoid secret police. The baby grows up in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his doctrine focuses on affection for other people, especially for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and sheltering. Jesus' answer to violence is to present the additional cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a way to educate the attacker; his method regarding offenses states that when a person pilfers your jacket you must offer them your pullover also.
The apparent and direct truth that Christ from scripture calls for a kind of extreme compassion concentrated on the needy is what has always made Christianity something of a provocative belief system: appealing to the masses, but due to its natural unconventionality demanding to be controlled. In the 1950s it was controlled through watering down – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Highest of Us
Hence I have become heartened to see the persistent defiance to Trump arise in this past year. It has served as substantial consolation to assist in constructing the initiative that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated electorate to show up in large quantities during minor elections. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags throughout each rally and appeals to the finest aspects within national heritage.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you receive him and embrace them or refuse?
The country is optimally secured, in other words, by relationship to the finest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is most protected by relationship to what makes it unique and wonderful, specifically the model of Christ. In both situations does it suggest acting as if the worst of both America and Christianity was nonexistent; it represents both humility and conviction, a combination that committed national faithful ought to accept.
