The Trump phenomenon's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most crucial, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor stupidest, but perhaps its most illuminating – emerged earlier this harvest season. In the course of a few weeks, the American president started showing the public his plans for a lavish reception room double the dimensions of the White House and then began independently demolishing the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has committed acts 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of casualties resulting from his reductions to international aid amounts to 600,000 and rising, and presently an analysis forecast his fossil fuel policies would kill another 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have dared – really, no former commander would have conceived – solo demolishing significant portions of the White House to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of numerous the nation's most affluent, almost all of whom maintain dealings with public institutions.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the Earth' into 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the chief executive seek to颠覆 the old idea regarding democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there is one large group within America who should not find it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us – among senior generations almost a majority – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched over the years as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we grew up with into the total contrary of who we understood him to be. Fundamentally, they converted a persona of compassion into a figure of animosity who approves specifically the brutality that he criticized in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more slowly, over decades rather than months, however it is still disturbing via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Damaging Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Jesus that I grew up with, since in theory Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and because the quickly increasing segment within America may possess limited understanding regarding him because they identify as atheists or agnostics or nones. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of great price in the Christian story.
It is emphatically absolutely not the narrative of a powerful ruler arising; rather, a baby is born to displaced parents in a garage, who must quickly flee to a different country to escape secret police. The baby grows up in simple surroundings, an employed craftsman; his doctrine is about love for fellow humans, especially for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and housing. Christ's response to violence is to present the other cheek – not as a demonstration of compliant endurance, but as a means to teach the assailant; his method regarding offenses states that when someone steals your coat you should give him your sweater too.
The obvious and clear reality that the Jesus from scripture advocates for a kind of extreme compassion centered on the poor has consistently rendered the Christian faith something of a controversial faith: engaging for the general public, but owing to its natural unconventionality needing to be controlled. In the fifties it was controlled via weakening – Protestantism was so widespread that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Highest Within Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to witness the steadfast resistance to Trump arise during the previous year. It has served as great solace to assist in constructing the campaign that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to show up in numbers during minor elections. We must have to maintain it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and calls to the highest qualities in US history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you welcome them and embrace them or reject?
America is best defended, in other words, by relationship to the finest within national tradition, similar to Christianity is best defended through connection to that which renders it unique and wonderful, specifically the model of the Savior. In both situations does it mean acting as if the most negative about the nation and Christian faith never occurred; it signifies both modesty and faith, a combination that committed US believers should be comfortable with.
