Trumpism's most telling and defining instances – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of a few weeks, the American president started showing the public his plans for a lavish reception room twice the size than the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the East Wing portion to build it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the current estimate of fatalities from his cuts to foreign assistance stands at 600,000 and growing, and this week research predicted his fossil fuel policies would kill another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have dared – truly, no former commander would have imagined – solo demolishing large sections of the executive mansion to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of multiple America's wealthiest, nearly all of which have business with public institutions.
We went from 'the gentle will obtain the Earth' to 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader attempt to overturn the established notion of democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion within America who might not perceive it entirely new. That is those of us – among senior generations a near majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched across decades while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they converted a persona of compassion into a figure of animosity who endorses precisely the cruelties that he condemned in biblical teachings; this has happened more slowly, through multiple decades rather than months, however it is still disturbing in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for numerous individuals.
A Damaging Christianity Establishes Itself
Therefore allow me to outline the Christ that I grew up with, because theoretically Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and since the quickly increasing segment of Americans might have little sense regarding him since they are skeptics or uncertain individuals or nones. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that there are pearls of great price in the Christian story.
It is decidedly definitely not the narrative of a powerful ruler appearing; conversely, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to a foreign land to escape covert authorities. The child matures in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his teaching concerns compassion for fellow humans, particularly for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and housing. Jesus' answer to hostility is to offer the other cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a way to educate the attacker; his method regarding offenses is that if someone steals your jacket you must offer the person your additional clothing also.
The apparent and straightforward truth that the Savior of the gospels requests a kind of radical love centered on the needy has perpetually caused the Christian faith something of a scandalous religion: appealing to the masses, but because of its natural unconventionality needing to be contained. During the 1950s it was contained via weakening – Protestantism was so widespread that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Finest of Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to witness the steadfast resistance to Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has provided great solace to participate in developing the movement that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated voters to show up in large quantities during minor elections. We shall require to maintain it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners throughout each rally and requests to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you welcome them and receive them or not?
The nation is most protected, to put it differently, by relationship to the best within national tradition, just as Christianity is optimally secured through connection to that which renders it distinctive and magnificent, particularly the pattern of the Savior. In neither case does it mean acting as if the worst of both America and Christian faith did not happen; it signifies both modesty and belief, a combination that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
