The Trump movement's most revealing and characteristic moments – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor stupidest, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of several weeks, the nation's leader commenced revealing the public his intentions for a gilded ballroom twice the size of the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing to erect it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of deaths resulting from his reductions to foreign assistance is 600,000 and growing, and recently an analysis predicted his petroleum strategies would cause deaths an additional 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No former leader would have attempted – really, no former commander would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying large sections of the presidential residence to construct a royal-themed celebration hall, with the direct cooperation of numerous the richest Americans, almost all of whom conduct transactions with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the gentle will obtain the planet' into 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the chief executive attempt to overturn the old idea of democracy and replace it with its polar opposite, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who should not find it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics a near majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years while conservative evangelical congregations transformed the Christ we learned about into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they turned a figure of love into a figure of animosity who blesses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more gradually, through multiple decades instead of months, yet it remains disturbing via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
Hence I shall explain the Christ from my childhood, as conceptually the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and because the fastest-growing cadre of Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him as they consider themselves atheists or agnostics or spiritual independents. I take no issue with these various perspectives, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably definitely not the account of a powerful ruler arising; instead, a baby is born to displaced parents in a garage, who must quickly flee to a different country to evade undercover officers. The child matures in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his teaching is about love for other people, especially for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, shown by providing food and protecting. Christ's response to violence is to present the other cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a way to educate the aggressor; his approach to wrongdoing is that if someone steals your outer garment you must offer the person your additional clothing as well.
The apparent and direct truth that the Savior from scripture advocates for a form of radical love centered on the impoverished has perpetually caused the Christian faith something of a scandalous religion: attractive to the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness demanding to be controlled. In the fifties it was controlled via weakening – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it essentially sanctified existing conditions.
A Battle for the Highest Within Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to observe the steadfast resistance against Trump arise during the previous year. It has served as great solace to assist in constructing the campaign that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to show up in large quantities in the off-year elections. We shall require to maintain it, and in the same spirit, with American flags at every demonstration and appeals to the best parts within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or reject?
The nation is most protected, to put it differently, through connection to the finest about American history, similar to Christianity is optimally secured by reference to that which renders it distinctive and wonderful, which is the example of Christ. In both situations does it suggest pretending the most damaging of both America and Christian faith never occurred; it means both modesty and faith, a combination that genuine US believers ought to accept.
