The Trump movement's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most significant, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president began displaying all observers his designs for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions of the White House and then began solo dismantling the eastern section to erect it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the existing assessment of casualties from his cuts to foreign assistance is 600,000 and growing, and recently research predicted his petroleum strategies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have risked – genuinely, no other president would have conceived – independently wrecking significant portions of the White House to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of some of America's wealthiest, almost all of whom have business with the government.
We moved from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' toward 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the president attempt to overturn the old idea regarding democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion within America who should not find it completely novel. This includes individuals like 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 converted the Savior we learned about into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. Essentially, they transformed an image of affection into a figure of hate who blesses specifically the brutality that he condemned in scripture; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, through multiple decades as opposed to months, but it is nonetheless disconcerting through similar means, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Jesus from my upbringing, as conceptually the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and since the fastest-growing cadre among Americans could have minimal awareness of him since they are non-believers or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with any other faith; but I do think that exist valuable insights of great price within Christian narrative.
It is unquestionably not the story of a powerful ruler emerging; conversely, a baby is born to displaced parents in a storage space, who need to rapidly escape to another nation to evade undercover officers. The child matures in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his message concerns compassion for other people, particularly for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, shown by providing food and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to offer the additional cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a method to teach the attacker; his crime policy states that when an individual takes your outer garment you must offer the person your additional clothing as well.
The evident and clear reality that Christ in biblical accounts advocates for a type of extreme compassion centered on the poor is what has always made Christianity somewhat of a scandalous religion: appealing to the masses, but due to its natural unconventionality requiring to be restrained. In the 1950s it was restrained through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so widespread that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Highest Within Us
So I have been heartened to witness the steadfast resistance to Trump arise in this past year. It has served as great solace to assist in constructing the movement that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged electorate to show up in large quantities in interim political contests. We will need to persist with it, and with identical determination, with American flags at every demonstration and requests to the best parts in US history.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the immigrant? Did you receive him and welcome him or not?
The country is optimally secured, in other words, by relationship to the highest about American history, similar to Christianity is optimally secured through connection to what makes it distinctive and beautiful, which is the example of Christ. In all circumstances does it suggest feigning the worst regarding America and Christianity did not happen; it means both modesty and faith, a mixture that serious American Christians ought to accept.
