Trumpism's most telling and distinctive occasions – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of a few weeks, the US president started showing all observers his designs for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions of the White House and subsequently started independently demolishing the East Wing to construct it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the existing assessment of deaths from his cuts to foreign assistance amounts to 600,000 and rising, and recently an analysis predicted his petroleum strategies would cause deaths an additional 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No other president would have attempted – genuinely, no other president would have imagined – independently wrecking significant portions of the White House in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, the majority of whom have business with federal agencies.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' toward 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As disorienting as it is to witness the president try to upend the old idea about democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there is one large group within America who might not perceive it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations converted the Savior we grew up with into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. Essentially, they transformed an image of love into an icon of hostility who endorses specifically the brutality that he condemned in the Gospel; this has happened more gradually, through multiple decades instead of months, yet it remains disturbing in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus that I grew up with, since in theory the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and given that the quickly increasing segment among Americans might have little sense regarding him because they identify as non-believers or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; but I do think that there are pearls of substantial value in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably not the story of a powerful ruler arising; conversely, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in a storage space, who must quickly flee to another nation to avoid covert authorities. The infant develops in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his doctrine concerns compassion for fellow humans, particularly for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, expressed by feeding and housing. Jesus' answer to violence is to present the additional cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a way to teach the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing indicates that whenever an individual takes your jacket you must offer them your pullover as well.
The evident and direct fact that the Savior from scripture calls for a form of radical love focused on the poor has consistently rendered Christian religion somewhat of a provocative belief system: appealing to the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness demanding to be restrained. During the 1950s it was restrained by dilution – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it practically baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Highest Within Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to observe the determined opposition against Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has served as substantial consolation to assist in constructing the movement that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated citizens to turn out in large quantities during minor elections. We shall require to maintain it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and appeals to the highest qualities in US history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the immigrant? Did you welcome them and welcome him or reject?
The nation is most protected, essentially, by reference to the best within national tradition, just as Christianity is optimally secured by relationship to that which renders it distinctive and magnificent, particularly the pattern of the Savior. In all circumstances does it suggest pretending the worst regarding America and Christianity never occurred; it represents both humility and belief, a combination that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
