The Trump movement's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president started showing the public his intentions for an ornate dance hall twice the size than the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has committed acts 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of fatalities due to his slashing to foreign assistance is 600,000 and increasing, and this week a study forecast his petroleum strategies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have risked – genuinely, no former commander would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying major areas of the presidential residence to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of multiple America's wealthiest, almost all of whom conduct transactions with the government.
We transitioned from 'the humble will receive the world' to 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the leader attempt to overturn the established notion of democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there is one large group of Americans who should not find it entirely new. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics a near majority – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have observed over the years while conservative evangelical congregations converted the Savior we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they turned a figure of compassion into a symbol of hate who blesses precisely the cruelties that he denounced in scripture; this transformation occurred more slowly, across decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disturbing in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Savior from my upbringing, since in theory Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and given that the fastest-growing cadre within America may possess limited understanding about him as they consider themselves atheists or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that there are pearls of great price in the Christian story.
It is decidedly absolutely not the story of a mighty king emerging; conversely, an infant arrives to displaced parents in a storage space, who need to rapidly escape to a foreign land to evade covert authorities. The child matures in simple surroundings, an employed craftsman; his doctrine concerns compassion for others, especially for the disadvantaged – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and sheltering. Jesus' answer to aggression is to turn the other cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a way to teach the aggressor; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever someone steals your outer garment you ought to provide him your sweater as well.
The apparent and straightforward fact that Christ of the gospels requests a form of profound affection centered on the poor is what has always made the Christian faith somewhat of a scandalous religion: engaging for the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness requiring to be contained. During the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Highest of Us
So I have been inspired to observe the steadfast resistance regarding Trump emerge over the last twelve months. It has been significant comfort to participate in developing the campaign that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired citizens to participate in numbers during minor elections. We will need to maintain it, and with identical determination, featuring US banners throughout each rally and calls to the best parts within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and receive them or reject?
The country is optimally secured, essentially, through connection to the best about American history, similar to Christianity is best defended by relationship to what makes it distinctive and magnificent, which is the example of Jesus. In both situations does it imply pretending the most damaging about the nation and Christian faith never occurred; it means both humility and belief, a mixture that serious national faithful ought to accept.
