The Trump phenomenon's most telling and characteristic instances – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of a few weeks, the US president began displaying the public his intentions for a lavish reception room twice the size of the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the East Wing portion to erect it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the current estimate of deaths due to his slashing to USAID stands at 600,000 and rising, and presently an analysis forecast his energy policies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have attempted – truly, no previous leader would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying major areas of the presidential residence to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of numerous the nation's most affluent, almost all of whom have business with the government.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the planet' to 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader try to upend the established notion about democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who should not find it entirely new. That is those of us – among senior generations close to half – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed over the years while conservative evangelical congregations converted the Savior we were raised with into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they turned a figure of compassion into a symbol of hate who endorses exactly the harshness that he condemned in the Gospel; this has happened more slowly, over decades rather than months, however it is still disconcerting in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for many of us.
A Damaging Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Christ from my upbringing, because theoretically Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and since the rapidly expanding group of Americans may possess limited understanding regarding him as they consider themselves atheists or uncertain individuals or nones. I take no issue with these various perspectives, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically not the account of a powerful ruler arising; rather, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to evade secret police. The child matures in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his message focuses on affection for other people, particularly for the disadvantaged – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. The Savior's reaction to violence is to turn the other cheek – not as an act of submissive tolerance, but as a method to instruct the aggressor; his method regarding offenses is that if an individual takes your coat you ought to provide him your sweater also.
The evident and clear fact that Christ of the gospels requests a form of profound affection concentrated on the needy is what has always made Christianity rather a provocative belief system: appealing to the masses, but owing to its intrinsic extremism demanding to be controlled. During the 1950s it was contained by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so widespread that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Finest Among Us
Hence I have become heartened to observe the determined opposition against Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has been great solace to participate in developing the initiative that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged voters to participate in large quantities during minor elections. We shall require to maintain it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags during all protests and appeals to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you receive him and receive them or not?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, through connection to the finest in US heritage, just as Christianity is most protected by reference to that which renders it unique 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 means both meekness and belief, a mixture that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
