Trumpism's most illuminating and characteristic instances – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but perhaps its most illuminating – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president began displaying everyone his intentions for a gilded ballroom two times larger than the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing to construct it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the present calculation of deaths due to his slashing to international aid is 600,000 and growing, and this week a study predicted his fossil fuel policies would kill an additional 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No previous president would have attempted – truly, no previous leader would have imagined – unilaterally destroying major areas of the presidential residence to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the direct cooperation of multiple the nation's most affluent, almost all of whom have business with the government.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' toward 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader attempt to overturn the established notion of democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment within America who wouldn't consider it completely novel. That encompasses people such as ourselves – among senior generations close to half – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we grew up with into the total contrary of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they converted a persona of love into a figure of animosity who approves specifically the brutality that he condemned in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more gradually, across decades rather than months, yet it remains disconcerting via comparable methods, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Damaging Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Christ from my upbringing, because theoretically Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and since the rapidly expanding group of Americans may possess limited understanding about him as they consider themselves non-believers or doubters or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with different religions; but I do think that contain precious wisdom of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is decidedly not the story of a mighty king appearing; rather, a baby is born to homeless parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to evade undercover officers. The infant develops in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his doctrine focuses on affection for others, specifically for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. Christ's response to aggression is to turn the opposite cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a way to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses is that if someone steals your jacket you must offer them your pullover as well.
The evident and direct fact that the Jesus from scripture advocates for a kind of radical love focused on the poor has perpetually caused Christian religion rather a controversial faith: engaging for the general public, but due to its intrinsic extremism needing to be restrained. In the 1950s it was restrained through watering down – Protestantism was so widespread that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Highest of Us
Hence I have become heartened to witness the persistent defiance to Trump develop during the previous year. It has provided substantial consolation to assist in constructing the initiative that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged electorate to show up in large quantities during minor elections. We shall require to continue it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags during all protests and requests to the finest aspects in US history.
We're going to be asked ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you welcome them and receive them or reject?
The nation is most protected, essentially, by reference to the highest in US heritage, just as Christianity is optimally secured by reference to what makes it unique and wonderful, particularly the pattern of the Savior. In both situations does it suggest pretending the most negative of both America and Christian faith never occurred; it represents both meekness and faith, a combination that genuine US believers should be comfortable with.
