Trumpism's most telling and distinctive instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of multiple weeks, the US president began displaying all observers his plans for an ornate dance hall twice the size compared to the White House and then began unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to erect it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the current estimate of fatalities from his cuts to international aid is 600,000 and increasing, and this week an analysis projected his petroleum strategies would kill 1.3 million more. However nothing as distinctive. No former leader would have attempted – really, no previous leader would have conceived – independently wrecking large sections of the presidential residence to build a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of multiple the richest Americans, almost all of whom maintain dealings with the government.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the Earth' to 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the leader attempt to overturn the traditional concept regarding democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment within America who should not find it entirely new. That is those of us – among senior generations close to half – who were brought up within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we grew up with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they converted a persona of love into a figure of animosity who approves specifically the brutality that he criticized in scripture; this transformation occurred more gradually, through multiple decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless unsettling through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for numerous individuals.
A Damaging Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Savior from my childhood, as conceptually Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and since the rapidly expanding group within America could have minimal awareness of him as they consider themselves non-believers or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that there are pearls of great price in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically definitely not the story of a mighty king emerging; instead, an infant arrives to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to another nation to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his doctrine is about love for others, particularly for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but tangible care, expressed by feeding and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to violence is to present the other cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a way to educate the aggressor; his crime policy states that when a person pilfers your outer garment you should give him your sweater also.
The apparent and straightforward truth that the Jesus from scripture advocates for a form of profound affection concentrated on the poor has consistently rendered Christianity something of a provocative belief system: appealing to the general public, but owing to its inherent radicalness requiring to be contained. In the 1950s it was contained through watering down – Protestantism was so widespread that it practically baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Best Among Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to see the persistent defiance regarding Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has been great solace to help build the campaign that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged citizens to participate in significant amounts in interim political contests. We shall require to persist with it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners throughout each rally and appeals to the highest qualities in US history.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you welcome them and embrace them or refuse?
America is best defended, essentially, by relationship to the best within national tradition, similar to Christianity is best defended by relationship to that which renders it distinctive and wonderful, which is the example of the Savior. In all circumstances does it mean acting as if the most damaging about the nation and Christianity was nonexistent; it signifies both humility and faith, a blend that genuine American Christians ought to accept.
