The Trump movement's most telling and distinctive instances – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president commenced revealing all observers his plans for a gilded ballroom double the dimensions compared to the White House and then began independently demolishing the eastern section to erect it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the present calculation of casualties resulting from his reductions to international aid stands at 600,000 and rising, and this week a study projected his petroleum strategies would kill another 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have risked – genuinely, no previous leader would have imagined – independently wrecking large sections of the presidential residence to build a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of multiple America's wealthiest, the majority of whom conduct transactions with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the world' to 'the gentle will succumb of cholera'
As disorienting as it is to witness the president attempt to overturn the traditional concept about democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there is one large group within America who wouldn't consider it completely novel. That encompasses people such as ourselves – among senior generations almost a majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched across decades while conservative evangelical congregations 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 hostility who endorses precisely the cruelties that he condemned in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, across decades instead of months, yet it remains disconcerting in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Christ that I grew up with, as conceptually the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and given that the quickly increasing segment among Americans may possess limited understanding about him as they consider themselves atheists or doubters or nones. I take no issue 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 emphatically absolutely not the story of a mighty king arising; rather, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in a garage, who must quickly flee to another nation to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in humble circumstances, an employed craftsman; his message concerns compassion for other people, specifically for the disadvantaged – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and housing. Jesus' answer to hostility is to present the other cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a way to instruct the assailant; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever a person pilfers your outer garment you must offer him your sweater also.
The apparent and direct fact that the Savior of the gospels advocates for a type of profound affection concentrated on the impoverished has consistently rendered the Christian faith something of a controversial faith: engaging for the masses, but because of its natural unconventionality requiring to be contained. In the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so widespread that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Conflict for the Finest of Us
So I have been encouraged to observe the persistent defiance regarding Trump arise in this past year. It has provided significant comfort to participate in developing the initiative that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in significant amounts during minor elections. We will need to continue it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags at every demonstration and appeals to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or reject?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the finest within national tradition, just as Christianity is most protected by reference to that which renders it unique and magnificent, specifically the model of Christ. In all circumstances does it imply acting as if the worst about the nation and religious tradition was nonexistent; it means both modesty and faith, a combination that genuine American Christians ought to accept.
