Trumpism's most illuminating and defining instances – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of several weeks, the nation's leader began displaying the public his intentions for a lavish reception room double the dimensions compared to the White House and then began unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to build it.
He has committed acts 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of fatalities due to his slashing to foreign assistance is 600,000 and rising, and this week research projected his energy policies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have attempted – truly, no former commander would have conceived – unilaterally destroying major areas of the executive mansion in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of multiple America's wealthiest, almost all of whom maintain dealings with the government.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' to 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the chief executive attempt to overturn the old idea about democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who wouldn't consider it entirely new. That encompasses people such as ourselves – among senior generations almost a majority – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched across decades as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they converted a persona of compassion into an icon of hate who endorses specifically the brutality that he condemned in scripture; this change developed more slowly, across decades rather than months, however it is still unsettling in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Jesus from my childhood, because theoretically Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and because the quickly increasing segment within America could have minimal awareness of him since they are non-believers or doubters or spiritual independents. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; however I believe that contain precious wisdom of significant worth within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically not the account of a powerful ruler emerging; rather, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in a storage space, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to evade secret police. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his message is about love for fellow humans, particularly for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. Christ's response to aggression is to turn the additional cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever someone steals your outer garment you must offer him your sweater too.
The evident and direct reality that Christ of the gospels advocates for a type of profound affection concentrated on the impoverished has consistently rendered the Christian faith rather a provocative belief system: attractive to the general public, but owing to its inherent radicalness needing to be contained. During the 1950s it was restrained by dilution – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Best Among Us
Hence I have become encouraged to see the steadfast resistance against Trump arise during the previous year. It has served as great solace to assist in constructing the initiative that has taken to the streets via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated citizens to turn out in large quantities in interim political contests. We will need to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners throughout each rally and requests to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and receive them or refuse?
The country is optimally secured, in other words, through connection to the finest in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is most protected by reference to what makes it distinctive and beautiful, particularly the pattern of Christ. In both situations does it suggest acting as if the worst regarding America and religious tradition did not happen; it represents both humility and faith, a mixture that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
