Trumpism's most revealing and defining moments – not its most crucial, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of several weeks, the American president began displaying the public his designs for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions of the White House and subsequently started independently demolishing the eastern section to construct it.
He has performed deeds ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of fatalities due to his slashing to international aid amounts to 600,000 and growing, and recently a study predicted his energy policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – genuinely, no former commander would have conceived – unilaterally destroying major areas of the executive mansion in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of some of the richest Americans, the majority of whom maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the humble will receive the world' to 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As confusing as it is to watch the president attempt to overturn the old idea regarding democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who might not perceive it totally unfamiliar. That encompasses people such as ourselves – among senior generations almost a majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have observed throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we grew up with into the total contrary of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they transformed an image of love into an icon of animosity who blesses specifically the brutality that he denounced in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more gradually, through multiple decades rather than months, but it is nonetheless unsettling via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Savior from my upbringing, as conceptually the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and given that the quickly increasing segment of Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him because they identify as non-believers or agnostics or nones. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that exist valuable insights of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is emphatically not the story of an authoritative monarch emerging; instead, a baby is born to homeless parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to another nation to evade secret police. The child matures in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine focuses on affection for fellow humans, especially for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and housing. Christ's response to violence is to present the other cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a method to instruct the aggressor; his crime policy indicates that whenever a person pilfers your jacket you ought to provide him your sweater as well.
The obvious and straightforward truth that the Jesus of the gospels calls for a type of radical love concentrated on the impoverished has perpetually caused Christianity something of a scandalous religion: attractive to the populace, but owing to its intrinsic extremism demanding to be restrained. During the 1950s it was restrained by dilution – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Best of Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to witness the steadfast resistance to Trump emerge during the previous year. It has been significant comfort to help build the movement that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated voters to participate in large quantities during minor elections. We must have to continue it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners at every demonstration and requests to the finest aspects in US history.
We shall be interrogated ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or refuse?
America is best defended, essentially, through connection to the finest in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured through connection to elements that cause it to be special and wonderful, particularly the pattern of Christ. In neither case does it mean feigning the most negative of both America and Christian faith was nonexistent; it means both humility and faith, a combination that genuine national faithful should be comfortable with.
