Trumpism's most illuminating and characteristic occasions – not its most significant, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor stupidest, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of a few weeks, the American president began displaying the public his intentions for a lavish reception room twice the size of the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to erect it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the existing assessment of casualties due to his slashing to USAID stands at 600,000 and growing, and recently research projected his energy policies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have risked – genuinely, no other president would have conceived – independently wrecking major areas of the presidential residence to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of multiple the richest Americans, nearly all of which have business with the government.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' into 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the leader try to upend the established notion of democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there exists a significant segment among Americans who might not perceive it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we grew up with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. Essentially, they transformed an image of compassion into an icon of hostility who approves precisely the cruelties that he condemned in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, across decades instead of months, yet it remains disconcerting via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Jesus from my childhood, because theoretically Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and since the fastest-growing cadre within America could have minimal awareness of him since they are non-believers or uncertain individuals or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with different religions; however I believe that there are pearls of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically absolutely not the narrative of an authoritative monarch arising; conversely, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a garage, who must quickly flee to another nation to avoid undercover officers. The child matures in simple surroundings, an employed craftsman; his message is about love for others, particularly for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. Christ's response to hostility is to offer the other cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever a person pilfers your coat you must offer them your pullover too.
The obvious and direct reality that Christ of the gospels advocates for a form of extreme compassion concentrated on the impoverished is what has always made Christianity somewhat of a controversial faith: attractive to the general public, but because of its inherent radicalness demanding to be contained. In the fifties it was contained through watering down – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Battle for the Finest of Us
Hence I have become encouraged to see the determined opposition to Trump emerge over the last twelve months. It has provided great solace to help build the movement that has protested openly in rally after rally, and likely has encouraged voters to turn out in significant amounts in the off-year elections. We must have to continue it, and through comparable resolve, displaying national flags throughout each rally and calls to the best parts of American history.
We're going to be asked ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you receive him and welcome him or reject?
The country is optimally secured, essentially, by reference to the best about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is best defended through connection to elements that cause it to be distinctive and wonderful, which is the example of Christ. In all circumstances does it imply acting as if the most damaging of both America and religious tradition was nonexistent; it represents both humility and belief, a combination that committed American Christians should embrace.
