The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and defining instances – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president started showing all observers his designs for a lavish reception room twice the size than the White House and then began unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the present calculation of fatalities due to his slashing to international aid stands at 600,000 and increasing, and presently an analysis forecast his petroleum strategies would result in fatalities another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have dared – truly, no former commander would have conceived – solo demolishing large sections of the executive mansion to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of multiple the richest Americans, the majority of whom conduct transactions with public institutions.
We moved from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' to 'the gentle will succumb of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the chief executive try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who should not find it entirely new. That is those of us – among senior generations almost a majority – who were brought up as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we grew up with into the total contrary of who we understood him to be. Fundamentally, they converted a persona of affection into a figure of hate who blesses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in the Gospel; this has happened more slowly, over decades rather than months, yet it remains unsettling via comparable methods, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my childhood, as conceptually the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and given that the rapidly expanding group among Americans might have little sense regarding him because they identify as non-believers or doubters or spiritual independents. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with different religions; but I do think that contain precious wisdom of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably not the narrative of an authoritative monarch emerging; conversely, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to evade covert authorities. The child matures in humble circumstances, an employed craftsman; his teaching is about love for other people, specifically for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, shown by providing food and protecting. Christ's response to aggression is to offer the opposite cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a way to teach the aggressor; his approach to wrongdoing states that when a person pilfers your jacket you should give them your pullover as well.
The apparent and clear reality that the Savior of the gospels calls for a type of radical love centered on the needy has perpetually caused Christian religion rather a provocative belief system: attractive to the populace, but owing to its natural unconventionality requiring to be contained. In the fifties it was controlled through watering down – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it basically blessed current circumstances.
A Battle for the Highest of Us
Hence I have become heartened to see the steadfast resistance regarding Trump arise during the previous year. It has provided substantial consolation to help build the campaign that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged electorate to show up in significant amounts in the off-year elections. We shall require to persist with it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags throughout each rally and requests to the finest aspects of American history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you welcome them and welcome him or reject?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the best within national tradition, similar to Christianity is best defended by reference to what makes it distinctive and wonderful, specifically the model of Christ. In both situations does it mean pretending the most negative regarding America and Christianity did not happen; it represents both meekness and conviction, a blend that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
