The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and characteristic occasions – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – came earlier this autumn. During the period of a few weeks, the US president started showing everyone his designs for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions compared to the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to construct it.
He has performed deeds ten thousand times worse – the present calculation of fatalities resulting from his reductions to USAID stands at 600,000 and rising, and recently an analysis predicted his petroleum strategies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have attempted – genuinely, no other president would have conceived – independently wrecking significant portions of the presidential residence to build a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of some of the nation's most affluent, the majority of whom maintain dealings with public institutions.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the Earth' to 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the leader attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there is one large group among Americans who might not perceive it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – in older age cohorts a near majority – who were educated as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched throughout the years as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we were raised with into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. Essentially, they turned a figure of love into a figure of hate who endorses exactly the harshness that he criticized in biblical teachings; this change developed at a slower pace, across decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disturbing through similar means, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
Therefore allow me to outline the Christ that I grew up with, since in theory Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and because the rapidly expanding group among Americans may possess limited understanding about him because they identify as non-believers or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that exist valuable insights of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably definitely not the story of an authoritative monarch emerging; rather, a baby is born to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The child matures in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine concerns compassion for other people, especially for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. Jesus' answer to violence is to turn the other cheek – not as an act of submissive tolerance, but as a means to educate the aggressor; his crime policy is that if a person pilfers your coat you should give them your pullover too.
The obvious and direct reality that the Jesus in biblical accounts advocates for a kind of radical love concentrated on the impoverished has consistently rendered Christian religion somewhat of a provocative belief system: attractive to the masses, but because of its intrinsic extremism demanding to be contained. During the 1950s it was restrained by dilution – Protestantism was so widespread that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Battle for the Best of Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to observe the steadfast resistance to Trump emerge during the previous year. It has been substantial consolation to participate in developing the initiative that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in large quantities in the off-year elections. We shall require to continue it, and with identical determination, with American flags at every demonstration and appeals to the highest qualities in US history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or refuse?
America is best defended, to put it differently, by reference to the finest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is optimally secured through connection to elements that cause it to be distinctive and beautiful, specifically the model of Christ. In both situations does it imply feigning the most damaging of both America and Christianity never occurred; it represents both humility and conviction, a mixture that committed US believers should embrace.
