The Trump movement's most telling and defining instances – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor stupidest, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of a few weeks, the nation's leader started showing everyone his plans for an ornate dance hall twice the size compared to the White House and then began unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to erect it.
He has committed acts 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of deaths due to his slashing to foreign assistance is 600,000 and increasing, and presently an analysis projected his petroleum strategies would kill an additional 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No previous president would have attempted – really, no other president would have imagined – independently wrecking major areas of the White House to build a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of multiple America's wealthiest, almost all of whom have business with the government.
We moved from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' into 'the meek shall die to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the leader try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there is one large group among Americans who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed across decades as politically conservative religious groups converted the Savior we grew up with into the total contrary of who we understood him to be. Essentially, they converted a persona of love into an icon of hate who approves exactly the harshness that he condemned in scripture; this has happened more slowly, over decades as opposed to months, however it is still unsettling in the same ways, a disorienting gut punch for numerous individuals.
A Damaging Christianity Establishes Itself
Therefore allow me to outline the Savior that I grew up with, since in theory Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and because the rapidly expanding group within America could have minimal awareness about him since they are non-believers or doubters or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of great price in the Christian story.
It is decidedly absolutely not the narrative of a mighty king emerging; conversely, an infant arrives to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to another nation to evade secret police. The child matures in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his doctrine focuses on affection for fellow humans, especially for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, shown by providing food and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to turn the other cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a means to educate the attacker; his method regarding offenses states that when a person pilfers your outer garment you must offer the person your additional clothing also.
The evident and clear fact that Christ from scripture requests a form of extreme compassion focused on the impoverished is what has always made Christian religion rather a controversial faith: engaging for the general public, but because of its inherent radicalness demanding to be contained. In the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so prevalent that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Battle for the Best Among Us
So I have been heartened to witness the persistent defiance to Trump arise during the previous year. It has been great solace to assist in constructing the campaign that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired citizens to participate in large quantities in interim political contests. We must have to persist with it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners throughout each rally and calls to the finest aspects of American history.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the immigrant? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or reject?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the best in US heritage, similar to Christianity is best defended by relationship to what makes it special and wonderful, particularly the pattern of Christ. In both situations does it mean feigning the most damaging of both America and Christianity never occurred; it means both modesty and belief, a blend that serious national faithful ought to accept.
