Trumpism's most illuminating and defining instances – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. During the period of a few weeks, the nation's leader started showing the public his plans for a lavish reception room twice the size of the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the eastern section to erect it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of casualties from his cuts to international aid stands at 600,000 and rising, and this week research forecast his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have risked – truly, no former commander would have imagined – unilaterally destroying large sections of the executive mansion to build a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of numerous America's wealthiest, the majority of whom conduct transactions with public institutions.
We went from 'the gentle will obtain the world' to 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion within America who wouldn't consider it entirely new. That is those of us – among senior generations a near majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed throughout the years as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we learned about into the total contrary of our perception of his character. Essentially, they turned a figure of love into a symbol of hostility who approves specifically the brutality that he condemned in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more gradually, through multiple decades rather than months, yet it remains disconcerting via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Jesus that I grew up with, as conceptually the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and since the fastest-growing cadre among Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him because they identify as non-believers or doubters or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that there are pearls of great price in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly definitely not the story of an authoritative monarch emerging; instead, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in a garage, who need to rapidly escape to a foreign land to escape covert authorities. The child matures in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his doctrine is about love for others, especially for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. Jesus' answer to hostility is to turn the opposite cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a way to teach the assailant; his crime policy indicates that whenever an individual takes your coat you ought to provide him your sweater as well.
The obvious and straightforward reality that Christ from scripture calls for a kind of extreme compassion concentrated on the needy is what has always made Christianity rather a provocative belief system: engaging for the masses, but because of its intrinsic extremism needing to be restrained. In the 1950s it was contained via weakening – Protestantism was so prevalent that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Battle for the Best Within Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to observe the steadfast resistance against Trump develop during the previous year. It has been great solace to help build the campaign that has demonstrated publicly in rally after rally, and likely has encouraged citizens to participate in numbers in the off-year elections. We shall require to persist with it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags throughout each rally and requests to the best parts of American history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you receive him and welcome him or refuse?
The nation is most protected, in other words, by relationship to the highest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is best defended by relationship to elements that cause it to be special and beautiful, specifically the model of the Savior. In neither case does it imply pretending the worst about the nation and religious tradition never occurred; it signifies both meekness and faith, a mixture that serious American Christians should be comfortable with.
