Trumpism's most telling and defining moments – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president began displaying all observers his designs for an ornate dance hall two times larger compared to the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to erect it.
He has done things 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of fatalities resulting from his reductions to USAID amounts to 600,000 and rising, and presently a study forecast his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have dared – really, no previous leader would have conceived – unilaterally destroying large sections of the White House to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the enthusiastic participation of numerous the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which conduct transactions with the government.
We went from 'the humble will receive the Earth' toward 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader attempt to overturn the old idea about democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there is one large group of Americans who wouldn't consider it completely novel. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts close to half – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed across decades as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our understanding of him. Essentially, they turned a figure of affection into an icon of hate who approves specifically the brutality that he condemned in scripture; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, across decades as opposed to months, however it is still disturbing through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Savior that I grew up with, as conceptually the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and given that the rapidly expanding group within America could have minimal awareness regarding him because they identify as non-believers or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I take no issue with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; however I believe that there are pearls of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is decidedly not the account of a powerful ruler appearing; instead, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to escape undercover officers. The child matures in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his teaching focuses on affection for fellow humans, particularly for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and sheltering. Jesus' answer to aggression is to turn the other cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a means to teach the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing is that if an individual takes your jacket you ought to provide them your pullover as well.
The apparent and clear truth that the Jesus in biblical accounts calls for a kind of extreme compassion centered on the impoverished has perpetually caused Christianity somewhat of a scandalous religion: engaging for the populace, but because of its intrinsic extremism requiring to be controlled. In the fifties it was controlled through watering down – Protestantism was so dominant that it practically baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Best of Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to observe the determined opposition against Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has provided great solace to participate in developing the movement that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged citizens to show up in large quantities in the off-year elections. We will need to persist with it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and appeals to the best parts in US history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or reject?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, by reference to the finest in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is best defended by reference to what makes it distinctive and wonderful, which is the example of the Savior. In all circumstances does it imply acting as if the most negative regarding America and religious tradition never occurred; it signifies both modesty and faith, a mixture that genuine US believers should embrace.
