The Trump movement's most illuminating and characteristic occasions – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of several weeks, the American president started showing the public his plans for a lavish reception room twice the size of the White House and then began unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the current estimate of fatalities resulting from his reductions to international aid is 600,000 and increasing, and recently an analysis predicted his petroleum strategies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have dared – truly, no previous leader would have imagined – solo demolishing significant portions of the White House to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of multiple the richest Americans, the majority of whom maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the humble will receive the world' toward 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the president try to upend the old idea of democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment of Americans who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were brought up within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed across decades as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we grew up with into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. Fundamentally, they turned a figure of affection into a symbol of hate who endorses exactly the harshness that he denounced in the Gospel; this change developed more gradually, over decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless unsettling via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Damaging Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Savior that I grew up with, because theoretically Jesus is the center within Christian belief, and because the quickly increasing segment within America might have little sense about him since they are non-believers or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I have no problem with these various perspectives, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth within Christian narrative.
It is decidedly not the narrative of an authoritative monarch arising; instead, an infant arrives to displaced parents in a storage space, who must quickly flee to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The infant develops in simple surroundings, an employed craftsman; his message focuses on affection for others, particularly for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. Jesus' answer to hostility is to turn the opposite cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his crime policy indicates that whenever a person pilfers your coat you must offer them your pullover also.
The obvious and direct reality that Christ of the gospels requests a type of radical love concentrated on the needy has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a provocative belief system: attractive to the masses, but due to its inherent radicalness requiring to be controlled. In the 1950s it was contained by dilution – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Highest Within Us
Hence I have become encouraged to see the steadfast resistance to Trump emerge in this past year. It has provided substantial consolation to help build the initiative that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated voters to turn out in significant amounts during minor elections. We shall require to continue it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags during all protests and appeals to the finest aspects of American history.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the immigrant? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or reject?
The nation is most protected, in other words, by relationship to the best about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is most protected by reference to elements that cause it to be distinctive and beautiful, specifically the model of Christ. In both situations does it suggest pretending the worst regarding America and Christian faith did not happen; it represents both humility and faith, a mixture that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
