The Trump movement's most telling and characteristic instances – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – emerged earlier this harvest season. In the course of several weeks, the nation's leader started showing everyone his intentions for a lavish reception room twice the size of the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the existing assessment of fatalities from his cuts to international aid is 600,000 and growing, and recently a study predicted his fossil fuel policies would kill 1.3 million more. However nothing as distinctive. No former leader would have dared – genuinely, no previous leader would have conceived – independently wrecking significant portions of the presidential residence to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of multiple the richest Americans, almost all of whom conduct transactions with federal agencies.
We went from 'the humble will receive the planet' to 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader attempt to overturn the old idea regarding democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there is one large group of Americans who wouldn't consider it completely novel. This includes individuals like us – among senior generations a near majority – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have observed over the years as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we grew up with into the total contrary of our understanding of him. Essentially, they transformed an image of love into an icon of animosity who endorses specifically the brutality that he denounced in scripture; this change developed more gradually, through multiple decades rather than months, however it is still disturbing via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Christ that I grew up with, since in theory the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and because the fastest-growing cadre of Americans might have little sense about him as they consider themselves skeptics or doubters or spiritual independents. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that there are pearls of great price in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly not the narrative of a powerful ruler arising; instead, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to another nation to escape covert authorities. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine concerns compassion for other people, particularly for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, shown by providing food and sheltering. Jesus' answer to violence is to offer the opposite cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a way to educate the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing is that if a person pilfers your outer garment you must offer the person your additional clothing as well.
The apparent and clear truth that the Savior from scripture requests a kind of extreme compassion concentrated on the impoverished has consistently rendered Christianity somewhat of a scandalous religion: appealing to the general public, but because of its intrinsic extremism needing to be restrained. In the fifties it was restrained through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Battle for the Highest of Us
So I have been inspired to witness the steadfast resistance regarding Trump emerge during the previous year. It has provided significant comfort to assist in constructing the initiative that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to participate in large quantities in interim political contests. We will need to maintain it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and requests to the best parts of American history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or refuse?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the highest in US heritage, similar to Christianity is most protected by reference to what makes it unique and magnificent, which is the example of Christ. In all circumstances does it suggest acting as if the worst of both America and Christian faith did not happen; it means both meekness and conviction, a combination that committed national faithful should be comfortable with.
