Trumpism's most telling and defining instances – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of several weeks, the American president commenced revealing the public his designs for an ornate dance hall twice the size of the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to build it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the current estimate of deaths due to his slashing to foreign assistance is 600,000 and growing, and presently a study projected his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have attempted – truly, no former commander would have conceived – unilaterally destroying large sections of the executive mansion to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of numerous the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which maintain dealings with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the gentle will obtain the planet' into 'the humble will perish of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the president try to upend the established notion of democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there is one large group within America who might not perceive it completely novel. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics close to half – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed throughout the years as rightwing evangelical churches transformed the Christ we were raised with into the total contrary of our understanding of him. Essentially, they turned a figure of love into a figure of hostility who approves specifically the brutality that he criticized in scripture; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, across decades as opposed to months, however it is still unsettling via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, as conceptually Jesus is the center within Christian belief, and given that the fastest-growing cadre of Americans could have minimal awareness regarding him as they consider themselves skeptics or doubters or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that there are pearls of substantial value in the Christian story.
It is decidedly absolutely not the story of a mighty king emerging; conversely, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to evade covert authorities. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his teaching focuses on affection for other people, specifically for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to present the additional cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a method to educate the aggressor; his approach to wrongdoing is that if a person pilfers your coat you must offer him your sweater also.
The obvious and direct fact that the Jesus in biblical accounts advocates for a form of radical love centered on the poor has consistently rendered the Christian faith something of a scandalous religion: appealing to the masses, but because of its inherent radicalness demanding to be restrained. In the fifties it was restrained via weakening – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Best Among Us
So I have been heartened to see the determined opposition to Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has served as substantial consolation to help build the campaign that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in significant amounts in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and through comparable resolve, displaying national flags during all protests and requests to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you welcome them and receive them or not?
The nation is most protected, in other words, by relationship to the finest about American history, just as Christianity is optimally secured through connection to that which renders it special and wonderful, which is the example of Christ. In both situations does it suggest acting as if the most damaging about the nation and religious tradition was nonexistent; it means both meekness and faith, a mixture that committed American Christians should embrace.
