The Trump movement's most telling and defining moments – not its most crucial, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of several weeks, the US president started showing everyone his plans for an ornate dance hall two times larger compared to the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the East Wing to build it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the current estimate of fatalities due to his slashing to foreign assistance amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and recently research forecast his petroleum strategies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have risked – really, no other president would have contemplated – solo demolishing major areas of the executive mansion to construct a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of multiple America's wealthiest, nearly all of which conduct transactions with federal agencies.
We went from 'the gentle will obtain the world' to 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the president try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and substitute it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment within America who wouldn't consider it entirely new. That is those of us – among senior generations almost a majority – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed over the years while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we grew up with into the total contrary of our understanding of him. Fundamentally, they turned a figure of love into a figure of animosity who approves exactly the harshness that he condemned in scripture; this change developed at a slower pace, across decades rather than months, but it is nonetheless unsettling via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Jesus from my childhood, since in theory the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and because the rapidly expanding group among Americans may possess limited understanding of him as they consider themselves skeptics or agnostics or spiritual independents. I take no issue with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that exist valuable insights of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly not the account of a mighty king appearing; rather, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to another nation to evade covert authorities. The child matures in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his teaching is about love for fellow humans, particularly for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to turn the other cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a means to instruct the assailant; his crime policy indicates that whenever someone steals your outer garment you ought to provide them your pullover too.
The obvious and direct reality that Christ from scripture advocates for a type of profound affection centered on the needy has perpetually caused Christianity something of a controversial faith: appealing to the populace, but due to its intrinsic extremism demanding to be restrained. During the 1950s it was controlled through watering down – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Highest Among Us
So I have been heartened to witness the determined opposition to Trump arise in this past year. It has served as substantial consolation to participate in developing the campaign that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged voters to show up in numbers during minor elections. We must have to maintain it, and with identical determination, with American flags throughout each rally and requests to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you welcome them and embrace them or refuse?
The nation is most protected, essentially, by reference to the best within national tradition, similar to Christianity is most protected through connection to what makes it special and beautiful, specifically the model of Christ. In all circumstances does it mean pretending the worst of both America and religious tradition was nonexistent; it means both humility and belief, a mixture that serious US believers should embrace.
