The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and distinctive occasions – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. In the course of a few weeks, the nation's leader started showing all observers his designs for a lavish reception room two times larger of the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing portion to build it.
He has committed acts 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of deaths due to his slashing to international aid amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and recently research forecast his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have attempted – truly, no previous leader would have imagined – independently wrecking large sections of the White House to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, almost all of whom conduct transactions with the government.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' into 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As confusing as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion within America who might not perceive it entirely new. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were brought up as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched throughout the years as rightwing evangelical churches transformed the Christ we grew up with into the total contrary of who we understood him to be. Essentially, they turned a figure of love into a symbol of animosity who approves exactly the harshness that he criticized in biblical teachings; this change developed more gradually, through multiple decades rather than months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Christ from my childhood, because theoretically Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and given that the fastest-growing cadre of Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him because they identify as non-believers or agnostics or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that exist valuable insights of substantial value in the Christian story.
It is emphatically not the story of a mighty king appearing; rather, an infant arrives to displaced parents in a garage, who need to rapidly escape to another nation to escape secret police. The child matures in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his message concerns compassion for other people, especially for the disadvantaged – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to violence is to turn the other cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a means to educate the aggressor; his approach to wrongdoing states that when someone steals your outer garment you should give the person your additional clothing also.
The apparent and straightforward fact that Christ from scripture calls for a form of extreme compassion concentrated on the poor is what has always made the Christian faith something of a scandalous religion: engaging for the populace, but owing to its intrinsic extremism demanding to be controlled. In the fifties it was controlled through watering down – Protestantism was so dominant that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Conflict for the Finest of Us
Hence I have become encouraged to witness the steadfast resistance against Trump arise during the previous year. It has served as great solace to help build the campaign that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and seems to have inspired electorate to participate in large quantities in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags at every demonstration and requests to the finest aspects in US history.
We're going to be asked ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you receive him and receive them or refuse?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, through connection to the highest in US heritage, similar to Christianity is most protected by relationship to what makes it special and magnificent, specifically the model of Christ. In all circumstances does it mean feigning the most negative of both America and Christian faith never occurred; it signifies both modesty and conviction, a combination that genuine US believers should be comfortable with.
