The Trump movement's most telling and distinctive moments – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of several weeks, the US president started showing all observers his plans for an ornate dance hall twice the size than the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the eastern section to build it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the present calculation of deaths from his cuts to USAID stands at 600,000 and rising, and presently an analysis projected his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have attempted – really, no previous leader would have conceived – independently wrecking major areas of the presidential residence to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of multiple the richest Americans, nearly all of which maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' to 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the chief executive attempt to overturn the established notion of democracy and replace it with its polar opposite, there is one large group of Americans who might not perceive it completely novel. That encompasses people such as ourselves – within elder demographics a near majority – who were brought up as conventional Protestant believers.
We have observed across decades as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we were raised with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they transformed an image of compassion into a symbol of hate who blesses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in scripture; this change developed at a slower pace, across decades instead of months, however it is still disturbing through similar means, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Savior that I grew up with, since in theory Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and because the quickly increasing segment among Americans could have minimal awareness of him because they identify as atheists or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; however I believe that exist valuable insights of great price in the Christian story.
It is decidedly definitely not the narrative of a powerful ruler emerging; conversely, an infant arrives to homeless parents in a garage, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his teaching focuses on affection for other people, particularly for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but tangible care, expressed by feeding and protecting. Christ's response to aggression is to offer the opposite cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a way to educate the assailant; his crime policy indicates that whenever someone steals your outer garment you must offer the person your additional clothing as well.
The obvious and straightforward reality that Christ in biblical accounts advocates for a form of extreme compassion focused on the poor has perpetually caused the Christian faith something of a scandalous religion: appealing to the general public, but due to its intrinsic extremism requiring to be restrained. In the fifties it was contained via weakening – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Finest Among Us
Hence I have become heartened to see the determined opposition regarding Trump develop in this past year. It has provided significant comfort to participate in developing the movement that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired voters to participate in significant amounts during minor elections. We must have to persist with it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and calls to the finest aspects of American history.
We're going to be asked ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or reject?
The nation is most protected, to put it differently, by relationship to the finest in US heritage, just as Christianity is best defended through connection to that which renders it special and beautiful, particularly the pattern of the Savior. In neither case does it mean pretending the worst of both America and Christian faith did not happen; it represents both meekness and belief, a combination that serious American Christians ought to accept.
