The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and distinctive occasions – not its most crucial, nor cruelest, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but possibly its most revealing – emerged earlier this harvest season. In the course of several weeks, the US president began displaying everyone his plans for an ornate dance hall twice the size compared to the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the East Wing to build it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the current estimate of fatalities from his cuts to USAID stands at 600,000 and growing, and this week a study projected his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have dared – genuinely, no other president would have conceived – solo demolishing significant portions of the White House to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of some of the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which have business with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the world' toward 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the leader attempt to overturn the established notion regarding democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment within America who might not perceive it completely novel. That is those of us – within elder demographics a near majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed over the years as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we grew up with into the total contrary of our understanding of him. Fundamentally, they turned a figure of love into a figure of hostility who approves precisely the cruelties that he criticized in the Gospel; this has happened at a slower pace, through multiple decades instead of months, however it is still disturbing in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, because theoretically the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and because the rapidly expanding group among Americans might have little sense regarding him as they consider themselves non-believers or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is decidedly absolutely not the story of a mighty king appearing; conversely, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to escape secret police. The infant develops in simple surroundings, an employed craftsman; his teaching is about love for fellow humans, specifically for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, expressed by feeding and protecting. Christ's response to hostility is to offer the opposite cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a method to instruct the attacker; his method regarding offenses is that if an individual takes your coat you must offer the person your additional clothing also.
The obvious and direct truth that Christ of the gospels advocates for a kind of radical love centered on the impoverished has consistently rendered the Christian faith somewhat of a scandalous religion: attractive to the masses, but because of its inherent radicalness requiring to be restrained. In the 1950s it was contained through watering down – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Battle for the Highest Among Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to witness the determined opposition to Trump emerge in this past year. It has provided great solace to help build the movement that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired electorate to participate in large quantities in the off-year elections. We will need to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags at every demonstration and appeals to the best parts within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you welcome them and welcome him or not?
America is best defended, in other words, by reference to the highest about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured through connection to that which renders it distinctive and beautiful, particularly the pattern of the Savior. In both situations does it mean acting as if the worst regarding America and religious tradition never occurred; it represents both meekness and faith, a mixture that committed US believers should be comfortable with.
