The Trump movement's most telling and defining moments – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. During the period of a few weeks, the US president commenced revealing all observers his designs for a lavish reception room double the dimensions compared to the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the eastern section to erect it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the present calculation of deaths resulting from his reductions to USAID stands at 600,000 and growing, and recently a study forecast his fossil fuel policies would kill another 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have attempted – truly, no former commander would have imagined – independently wrecking major areas of the presidential residence to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of numerous the nation's most affluent, almost all of whom have business with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' to 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the president try to upend the old idea about democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there remains a substantial portion within America who should not find it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics 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. At its most basic, they transformed an image of love into a figure of animosity who blesses exactly the harshness that he denounced in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more slowly, over decades instead of months, yet it remains unsettling through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Savior that I grew up with, because theoretically Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and since the rapidly expanding group among Americans could have minimal awareness of him since they are atheists or doubters or nones. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; however I believe that exist valuable insights of significant worth in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably definitely not the story of an authoritative monarch arising; rather, a baby is born to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to a foreign land to evade undercover officers. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his message concerns compassion for others, especially for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and sheltering. Jesus' answer to aggression is to turn the other cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a way to instruct the aggressor; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever someone steals your coat you must offer him your sweater too.
The evident and straightforward reality that the Jesus of the gospels requests a kind of extreme compassion centered on the impoverished is what has always made Christianity rather a provocative belief system: appealing to the general public, but due to its natural unconventionality demanding to be restrained. During the 1950s it was contained via weakening – Protestantism was so widespread that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Finest of Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to see the steadfast resistance to Trump emerge in this past year. It has served as significant comfort to participate in developing the campaign that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged electorate to turn out in large quantities in the off-year elections. We must have to maintain it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and appeals to the best parts of American history.
We will be questioned ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you welcome them and embrace them or not?
America is best defended, essentially, by reference to the highest in US heritage, similar to Christianity is most protected through connection to that which renders it unique and wonderful, which is the example of Christ. In both situations does it suggest feigning the most negative about the nation and Christian faith did not happen; it signifies both meekness and conviction, a blend that serious national faithful should embrace.
