The Trump movement's most revealing and distinctive moments – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of several weeks, the US president started showing all observers his intentions for a gilded ballroom double the dimensions compared to the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing portion to erect it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the existing assessment of fatalities due to his slashing to international aid stands at 600,000 and growing, and presently a study projected his energy policies would kill an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have risked – really, no other president would have imagined – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the White House to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of numerous America's wealthiest, almost all of whom conduct transactions with the government.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the planet' into 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the leader try to upend the old idea about democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion among Americans who might not perceive it completely novel. This includes individuals like us – in older age cohorts close to half – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have observed over the years as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we learned about into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they turned a figure of affection into an icon of animosity who blesses exactly the harshness that he condemned in scripture; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, over decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless unsettling in the same ways, a disorienting gut punch for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Christ from my upbringing, as conceptually the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and because the quickly increasing segment within America could have minimal awareness of him since they are skeptics or uncertain individuals or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that there are pearls of great price in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably absolutely not the story of a powerful ruler appearing; rather, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a storage space, who must quickly flee to a different country to evade secret police. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his message focuses on affection for others, especially for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but tangible care, shown by providing food and sheltering. Jesus' answer to violence is to present the other cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a way to educate the attacker; his crime policy indicates that whenever a person pilfers your jacket you ought to provide the person your additional clothing too.
The obvious and clear fact that the Jesus from scripture requests a kind of radical love centered on the impoverished has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a scandalous religion: attractive to the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness requiring to be controlled. In the 1950s it was contained through watering down – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Best Among Us
Hence I have become heartened to see the steadfast resistance regarding Trump arise in this past year. It has provided great solace to participate in developing the movement that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged citizens to participate in large quantities during minor elections. We will need to persist with it, and in the same spirit, with American flags throughout each rally and appeals to the finest aspects in US history.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and welcome him or refuse?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the finest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is most protected by reference to that which renders it special and wonderful, which is the example of Jesus. In all circumstances does it suggest feigning the worst of both America and religious tradition did not happen; it represents both modesty and belief, a combination that genuine national faithful should embrace.
