Trumpism's most illuminating and defining instances – not its most crucial, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of a few weeks, the US president commenced revealing all observers his designs for an ornate dance hall twice the size of the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing to build it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the existing assessment of fatalities due to his slashing to international aid amounts to 600,000 and rising, and recently research projected his energy policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. However nothing as distinctive. No other president would have risked – truly, no previous leader would have conceived – unilaterally destroying major areas of the executive mansion in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of some of the richest Americans, almost all of whom maintain dealings with public institutions.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' to 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the leader try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there remains a substantial portion within America who should not find it entirely new. This includes individuals like us – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have observed across decades while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we were raised with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. Essentially, they converted a persona of love into a figure of hate who endorses precisely the cruelties that he denounced in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more gradually, across decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless unsettling through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my childhood, as conceptually Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and since the rapidly expanding group among Americans may possess limited understanding of him because they identify as non-believers or doubters or spiritual independents. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that there are pearls of great price in the Christian story.
It is emphatically definitely not the narrative of a powerful ruler arising; conversely, a baby is born to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to another nation to evade undercover officers. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his message is about love for other people, particularly for the impoverished – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. Christ's response to hostility is to present the other cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his approach to wrongdoing states that when an individual takes your coat you must offer the person your additional clothing too.
The obvious and clear reality that Christ in biblical accounts requests a type of radical love concentrated on the impoverished has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a provocative belief system: appealing to the general public, but due to its natural unconventionality needing to be contained. During the 1950s it was controlled via weakening – Protestantism was so dominant that it practically baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Finest Within Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to witness the persistent defiance against Trump emerge in this past year. It has served as great solace to participate in developing the movement that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired voters to participate in numbers in the off-year elections. We shall require to persist with it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags during all protests and calls to the finest aspects in US history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the immigrant? Did you welcome them and receive them or not?
The nation is most protected, in other words, by reference to the highest about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is most protected through connection to elements that cause it to be distinctive and beautiful, specifically the model of the Savior. In both situations does it suggest pretending the most negative of both America and Christianity never occurred; it represents both modesty and conviction, a mixture that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
