The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and distinctive occasions – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of several weeks, the nation's leader started showing the public his plans for a lavish reception room double the dimensions compared to the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the eastern section to build it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the current estimate of casualties resulting from his reductions to international aid is 600,000 and increasing, and this week an analysis predicted his petroleum strategies would kill an additional 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have dared – truly, no other president would have imagined – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the White House in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of some of the richest Americans, nearly all of which maintain dealings with the government.
We transitioned from 'the humble will receive the planet' toward 'the humble will perish of cholera'
As confusing as it is to observe the leader attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment of Americans who might not perceive it entirely new. That is those of us – among senior generations almost a majority – who were brought up within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have observed over the years as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we learned about into the complete reverse of who we understood him to be. Fundamentally, they turned a figure of affection into a symbol of hostility who blesses specifically the brutality that he criticized in the Gospel; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, across decades rather than months, however it is still disturbing through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Therefore allow me to outline the Christ that I grew up with, as conceptually the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and since the fastest-growing cadre of Americans might have little sense regarding him since they are atheists or uncertain individuals or nones. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that exist valuable insights of significant worth in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly absolutely not the narrative of a powerful ruler appearing; instead, a baby is born to homeless parents in a storage space, who must quickly flee to a different country to evade undercover officers. The baby grows up in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his message is about love for fellow humans, specifically for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and housing. The Savior's reaction to violence is to present the additional cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a way to instruct the assailant; his crime policy indicates that whenever an individual takes your jacket you should give him your sweater as well.
The obvious and straightforward fact that Christ from scripture calls for a form of extreme compassion focused on the poor has consistently rendered Christian religion rather a controversial faith: attractive to the masses, but due to its natural unconventionality needing to be contained. In the fifties it was contained through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so prevalent that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Highest Within Us
So I have been encouraged to see the steadfast resistance against Trump arise during the previous year. It has been significant comfort to participate in developing the movement that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to turn out in large quantities in the off-year elections. We shall require to continue it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners at every demonstration and calls to the best parts in US history.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you welcome them and receive them or not?
America is best defended, to put it differently, by relationship to the highest in US heritage, just as Christianity is best defended by relationship to that which renders it special and magnificent, specifically the model of Jesus. In all circumstances does it mean pretending the most damaging regarding America and Christian faith did not happen; it signifies both humility and faith, a mixture that genuine American Christians ought to accept.
