The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and distinctive moments – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of a few weeks, the nation's leader commenced revealing all observers his plans for a lavish reception room twice the size than the White House and then began independently demolishing the eastern section to build it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the existing assessment of casualties due to his slashing to USAID amounts to 600,000 and rising, and recently research forecast his energy policies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have attempted – really, no former commander would have contemplated – solo demolishing major areas of the executive mansion to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of some of America's wealthiest, the majority of whom maintain dealings with public institutions.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the Earth' to 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there is one large group within America who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – among senior generations almost a majority – who were educated as conventional Protestant believers.
We have witnessed throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we learned about into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they turned a figure of love into a symbol of hostility who endorses exactly the harshness that he denounced in biblical teachings; this has happened at a slower pace, through multiple decades instead of months, however it is still unsettling in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Christ from my upbringing, as conceptually the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and since the quickly increasing segment among Americans may possess limited understanding of him as they consider themselves atheists or agnostics or nones. I take no issue with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; however I believe that contain precious wisdom of significant worth within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically not the narrative of an authoritative monarch arising; conversely, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in a garage, who must quickly flee to another nation to escape covert authorities. The child matures in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his doctrine focuses on affection for other people, particularly for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Christ's response to hostility is to offer the additional cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a means to teach the assailant; his approach to wrongdoing is that if a person pilfers your coat you ought to provide them your pullover also.
The apparent and clear reality that Christ in biblical accounts calls for a form of radical love centered on the impoverished has consistently rendered Christian religion something of a provocative belief system: appealing to the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness needing to be restrained. During the 1950s it was restrained via weakening – Protestant Christianity was so widespread that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Best Within Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to witness the steadfast resistance regarding Trump emerge during the previous year. It has been substantial consolation to help build the initiative that has demonstrated publicly in rally after rally, and seems to have inspired electorate to participate in large quantities in interim political contests. We must have to continue it, and with identical determination, featuring US banners throughout each rally and appeals to the highest qualities of American history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you welcome them and receive them or refuse?
America is best defended, essentially, by reference to the finest in US heritage, just as Christianity is best defended through connection to elements that cause it to be unique and magnificent, which is the example of Jesus. In neither case does it mean feigning the worst about the nation and religious tradition did not happen; it represents both meekness and belief, a blend that committed American Christians ought to accept.
