The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and distinctive occasions – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president started showing everyone his designs for a gilded ballroom twice the size compared to the White House and then began unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to erect it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the existing assessment of fatalities due to his slashing to USAID stands at 600,000 and growing, and presently a study predicted his energy policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No previous president would have risked – genuinely, no other president would have contemplated – independently wrecking major areas of the presidential residence to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of some of the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the world' to 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to witness the leader attempt to overturn the traditional concept about democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there is one large group among Americans who might not perceive it completely novel. That is those of us – within elder demographics a near majority – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have witnessed over the years as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we learned about into the total contrary of our perception of his character. Essentially, they converted a persona of love into an icon of hate who approves precisely the cruelties that he denounced in the Gospel; this change developed more slowly, through multiple decades rather than months, yet it remains unsettling via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Christ from my upbringing, since in theory Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and given that the fastest-growing cadre of Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him since they are atheists or agnostics or nones. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that there are pearls of great price in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly definitely not the account of a mighty king appearing; conversely, an infant arrives to displaced parents in a garage, who must quickly flee to a foreign land to escape undercover officers. The child matures in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his teaching focuses on affection for other people, especially for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. Christ's response to aggression is to offer the other cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a method to instruct the aggressor; his method regarding offenses states that when a person pilfers your coat you ought to provide the person your additional clothing also.
The apparent and straightforward truth that the Jesus from scripture requests a form of extreme compassion centered on the impoverished is what has always made the Christian faith somewhat of a scandalous religion: attractive to the populace, but due to its natural unconventionality needing to be contained. In the fifties it was controlled through watering down – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Finest Within Us
Hence I have become heartened to witness the determined opposition to Trump emerge during the previous year. It has provided significant comfort to participate in developing the movement that has protested openly in rally after rally, and likely has encouraged voters to show up in significant amounts during minor elections. We must have to maintain it, and in the same spirit, with American flags during all protests and appeals to the finest aspects in US history.
We're going to be asked ... about how you treated the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or refuse?
The nation is most protected, essentially, by relationship to the finest in US heritage, just as Christianity is optimally secured through connection to what makes it distinctive and magnificent, specifically the model of Jesus. In both situations does it suggest acting as if the most damaging about the nation and Christian faith was nonexistent; it represents both humility and conviction, a combination that genuine American Christians ought to accept.
