Trumpism's most revealing and defining instances – not its most crucial, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor stupidest, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of a few weeks, the American president began displaying all observers his intentions for a lavish reception room twice the size compared to the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the East Wing portion to erect it.
He has performed deeds ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of casualties resulting from his reductions to foreign assistance is 600,000 and increasing, and presently a study predicted his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have attempted – really, no previous leader would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying large sections of the White House to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation 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' into 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the chief executive try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there is one large group among Americans who should not find it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics close to half – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed across decades as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we grew up with into the total contrary of our understanding of him. Fundamentally, they transformed an image of affection into a symbol of hate who blesses precisely the cruelties that he condemned in scripture; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, through multiple decades as opposed to months, but it is nonetheless disturbing through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Christ that I grew up with, as conceptually Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and given that the fastest-growing cadre of Americans could have minimal awareness of him since they are non-believers or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of significant worth in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly not the story of an authoritative monarch arising; conversely, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to evade covert authorities. The child matures in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine is about love for other people, particularly for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and housing. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to turn the additional cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a method to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses is that if an individual takes your outer garment you should give the person your additional clothing also.
The apparent and direct reality that the Savior of the gospels calls for a form of radical love concentrated on the needy is what has always made Christianity something of a scandalous religion: engaging for the general public, but because of its inherent radicalness requiring to be controlled. During the 1950s it was restrained through watering down – Protestantism was so prevalent that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Best of Us
So I have been encouraged to observe the steadfast resistance to Trump emerge over the last twelve months. It has provided significant comfort to help build the initiative that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged voters to participate in numbers during minor elections. We will need to persist with it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We're going to be asked ... regarding how you welcomed the immigrant? Did you welcome them and receive them or reject?
The country is optimally secured, essentially, by reference to the best within national tradition, exactly as the Christian faith is best defended by reference to what makes it special and beautiful, specifically the model of Christ. In neither case does it imply feigning the most negative regarding America and religious tradition never occurred; it means both meekness and belief, a blend that serious American Christians ought to accept.
