The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and distinctive instances – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of a few weeks, the nation's leader began displaying everyone his designs for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions compared to the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the East Wing to erect it.
He has performed deeds ten thousand times worse – the present calculation of casualties from his cuts to USAID stands at 600,000 and increasing, and this week an analysis projected his petroleum strategies would result in fatalities an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – genuinely, no other president would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the executive mansion to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of some of the richest Americans, nearly all of which have business with the government.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the Earth' toward 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the president try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there is one large group among Americans who might not perceive it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us – among senior generations close to half – who were brought up within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we grew up with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they transformed an image of love into a figure of hostility who blesses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in biblical teachings; this change developed more gradually, through multiple decades instead of months, yet it remains disconcerting in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Hence I shall explain the Christ from my upbringing, since in theory Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and since the rapidly expanding group within America may possess limited understanding regarding him since they are skeptics or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of substantial value in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably not the account of an authoritative monarch appearing; conversely, a baby is born to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to another nation to evade covert authorities. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his message is about love for fellow humans, particularly for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Christ's response to aggression is to turn the other cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a way to instruct the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing is that if an individual takes your outer garment you ought to provide the person your additional clothing as well.
The apparent and straightforward truth that the Savior in biblical accounts requests a type of profound affection centered on the impoverished is what has always made Christian religion somewhat of a scandalous religion: attractive to the masses, but owing to its natural unconventionality needing to be contained. In the fifties it was controlled by dilution – Protestantism was so widespread that it practically baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Best Within Us
Hence I have become heartened to see the determined opposition to Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has been great solace to participate in developing the movement that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in numbers in the off-year elections. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities in US history.
We're going to be asked ... about how you treated the foreigner? Did you receive him and receive them or not?
The country is optimally secured, essentially, by reference to the finest in US heritage, just as Christianity is most protected by relationship to that which renders it unique and wonderful, which is the example of Christ. In neither case does it mean feigning the most negative regarding America and Christian faith did not happen; it represents both humility and belief, a blend that committed national faithful should embrace.
