The Trump movement's most telling and defining occasions – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – emerged earlier this harvest season. In the course of multiple weeks, the US president commenced revealing all observers his plans for a lavish reception room twice the size than the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the East Wing to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the present calculation of fatalities from his cuts to foreign assistance is 600,000 and increasing, and presently a study forecast his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No other president would have risked – really, no former commander would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying major areas of the White House to construct a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of multiple the richest Americans, nearly all of which conduct transactions with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' toward 'the meek shall die to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the established notion about democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there is one large group within America who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed across decades as politically conservative religious groups converted the Savior we learned about into the complete reverse of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they transformed an image of compassion into an icon of animosity who endorses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in biblical teachings; this change developed more slowly, over decades rather than months, however it is still unsettling through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, as conceptually Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and because the rapidly expanding group among Americans may possess limited understanding of him as they consider themselves atheists or agnostics or spiritual independents. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is unquestionably not the account of a powerful ruler appearing; instead, a baby is born to homeless parents in a garage, who must quickly flee to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, an employed craftsman; his message concerns compassion for fellow humans, particularly for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and sheltering. Christ's response to hostility is to present the other cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a way to educate the assailant; his crime policy indicates that whenever a person pilfers your outer garment you should give him your sweater too.
The apparent and straightforward reality that the Jesus from scripture advocates for a type of extreme compassion concentrated on the needy is what has always made the Christian faith something of a scandalous religion: appealing to the masses, but due to its natural unconventionality needing to be contained. In the 1950s it was controlled through watering down – Protestantism was so dominant that it essentially sanctified existing conditions.
A Battle for the Highest Among Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to see the persistent defiance to Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has served as substantial consolation to assist in constructing the campaign that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged citizens to show up in numbers during minor elections. We will need to continue it, and through comparable resolve, displaying national flags at every demonstration and appeals to the best parts within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the immigrant? Did you receive him and receive them or reject?
The nation is most protected, essentially, through connection to the highest about American history, similar to Christianity is best defended by relationship to that which renders it distinctive and magnificent, particularly the pattern of Jesus. In both situations does it imply feigning the worst of both America and religious tradition did not happen; it means both meekness and belief, a combination that committed American Christians should be comfortable with.
