Trumpism's most revealing and defining moments – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. In the course of multiple weeks, the nation's leader started showing all observers his plans for a lavish reception room double the dimensions of the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the East Wing portion to build it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the present calculation of casualties resulting from his reductions to USAID stands at 600,000 and increasing, and presently an analysis forecast his petroleum strategies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have dared – really, no former commander would have conceived – unilaterally destroying major areas of the executive mansion to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the direct cooperation of multiple America's wealthiest, almost all of whom have business with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the world' into 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there exists a significant segment among Americans who might not perceive it entirely new. That encompasses people such as ourselves – among senior generations close to half – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed across decades as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we grew up with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they converted a persona of love into a figure of hostility who approves precisely the cruelties that he condemned in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more gradually, through multiple decades as opposed to months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting in the same ways, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Damaging Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Christ that I grew up with, because theoretically Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and given that the rapidly expanding group within America may possess limited understanding regarding him as they consider themselves non-believers or uncertain individuals or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically definitely not the narrative of a mighty king appearing; conversely, a baby is born to displaced parents in a garage, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to escape undercover officers. The child matures in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his message is about love for others, specifically for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, shown by providing food and housing. Jesus' answer to aggression is to offer the additional cheek – not as a demonstration of compliant endurance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his crime policy is that if a person pilfers your outer garment you must offer them your pullover too.
The apparent and direct fact that the Jesus in biblical accounts calls for a form of profound affection centered on the poor has consistently rendered the Christian faith something of a scandalous religion: attractive to the general public, but due to its natural unconventionality demanding to be controlled. In the fifties it was contained by dilution – Protestantism was so dominant that it basically blessed current circumstances.
A Struggle for the Finest Among Us
So I have been encouraged to witness the persistent defiance regarding Trump emerge over the last twelve months. It has been great solace to assist in constructing the campaign that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired voters to turn out in significant amounts in interim political contests. We must have to maintain it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities of American history.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the immigrant? Did you receive him and embrace them or not?
The nation is most protected, essentially, through connection to the finest in US heritage, similar to Christianity is optimally secured through connection to that which renders it unique and wonderful, specifically the model of Jesus. In neither case does it suggest pretending the most damaging regarding America and Christian faith did not happen; it means both humility and belief, a mixture that genuine US believers should embrace.
