The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and distinctive occasions – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of several weeks, the American president commenced revealing all observers his intentions for a gilded ballroom double the dimensions than the White House and then began independently demolishing the eastern section to erect it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the current estimate of casualties from his cuts to international aid amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and this week research forecast his petroleum strategies would kill another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – truly, no former commander would have conceived – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the executive mansion to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of some of the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the humble will receive the world' to 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As confusing as it is to observe the chief executive try to upend the traditional concept regarding democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there is one large group within America who might not perceive it completely novel. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we learned about into the total contrary of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they converted a persona of love into a figure of hostility who blesses specifically the brutality that he condemned in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more slowly, through multiple decades as opposed to months, however it is still disturbing through similar means, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Damaging Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Savior that I grew up with, because theoretically Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and because the fastest-growing cadre of Americans could have minimal awareness about him since they are skeptics or agnostics or spiritual independents. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of great price in the Christian story.
It is emphatically definitely not the account of a mighty king emerging; conversely, a baby is born to homeless parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to another nation to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his teaching is about love for other people, especially for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and housing. Christ's response to hostility is to turn the opposite cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his approach to wrongdoing states that when someone steals your coat you must offer him your sweater too.
The obvious and clear reality that the Savior from scripture calls for a type of extreme compassion concentrated on the needy has consistently rendered the Christian faith somewhat of a controversial faith: engaging for the masses, but due to its inherent radicalness needing to be controlled. In the fifties it was contained through watering down – Protestantism was so widespread that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Best Among Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to observe the determined opposition regarding Trump emerge in this past year. It has been substantial consolation to assist in constructing the initiative that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated citizens to turn out in numbers in the off-year elections. We shall require to maintain it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and appeals to the finest aspects within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you welcome them and embrace them or not?
America is best defended, to put it differently, through connection to the best in US heritage, similar to Christianity is most protected by reference to what makes it unique and beautiful, specifically the model of Christ. In both situations does it mean acting as if the worst of both America and religious tradition was nonexistent; it signifies both modesty and faith, a combination that committed American Christians ought to accept.
