Trumpism's most revealing and defining moments – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor stupidest, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of several weeks, the American president commenced revealing the public his designs for a gilded ballroom twice the size of the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has committed acts 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of deaths resulting from his reductions to foreign assistance is 600,000 and growing, and recently a study forecast his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have risked – genuinely, no former commander would have imagined – solo demolishing large sections of the White House to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the enthusiastic participation of multiple the nation's most affluent, almost all of whom have business with federal agencies.
We went from 'the humble will receive the planet' into 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the president attempt to overturn the old idea regarding democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion within America who might not perceive it completely novel. That is those of us – among senior generations almost a majority – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years as rightwing evangelical churches transformed the Christ we grew up with into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they converted a persona of affection into a symbol of hate who endorses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more gradually, across decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disturbing through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Savior from my upbringing, as conceptually the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and given that the rapidly expanding group of Americans could have minimal awareness about him since they are non-believers or doubters or nones. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of great price within Christian narrative.
It is decidedly definitely not the narrative of a mighty king appearing; conversely, a baby is born to displaced parents in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to another nation to avoid undercover officers. The child matures in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his doctrine is about love for other people, particularly for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and sheltering. Jesus' answer to violence is to turn the other cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a method to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses states that when an individual takes your jacket you should give him your sweater too.
The obvious and clear truth that the Jesus from scripture calls for a kind of radical love focused on the poor has perpetually caused Christianity something of a scandalous religion: engaging for the general public, but due to its inherent radicalness needing to be contained. During the 1950s it was controlled through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Finest Within Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to witness the determined opposition to Trump arise in this past year. It has served as great solace to help build the campaign that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and likely has encouraged electorate to turn out in large quantities in the off-year elections. We shall require to maintain it, and with identical determination, featuring US banners at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities in US history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you welcome them and receive them or refuse?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the highest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is best defended through connection to elements that cause it to be special and magnificent, which is the example of Christ. In both situations does it imply acting as if the most damaging about the nation and Christian faith was nonexistent; it means both meekness and conviction, a combination that committed American Christians should be comfortable with.
