The Trump movement's most revealing and characteristic instances – not its most significant, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president started showing the public his designs for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions compared to the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the current estimate of fatalities due to his slashing to USAID stands at 600,000 and growing, and recently research projected his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No former leader would have dared – really, no former commander would have contemplated – solo demolishing major areas of the White House to construct a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, almost all of whom maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the world' into 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to witness the leader attempt to overturn the old idea about democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment within America who might not perceive it completely novel. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were brought up as conventional Protestant believers.
We have observed throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we were raised with into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they converted a persona of love into a figure of animosity who blesses exactly the harshness that he criticized in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, through multiple decades instead of months, however it is still disconcerting in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Damaging Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, since in theory Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and because the fastest-growing cadre within America could have minimal awareness about him because they identify as skeptics or agnostics or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of great price in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically absolutely not the story of an authoritative monarch emerging; rather, a baby is born to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to another nation to avoid undercover officers. The child matures in humble circumstances, a laboring woodworker; his teaching concerns compassion for others, especially for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to offer the opposite cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his approach to wrongdoing states that when a person pilfers your coat you must offer them your pullover as well.
The obvious and clear truth that the Jesus from scripture calls for a kind of profound affection focused on the impoverished is what has always made Christianity rather a controversial faith: appealing to the general public, but due to its inherent radicalness needing to be restrained. During the 1950s it was restrained by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so widespread that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Finest Within Us
Hence I have become encouraged to see the persistent defiance to Trump arise in this past year. It has been substantial consolation to participate in developing the campaign that has demonstrated publicly in rally after rally, and seems to have inspired voters to participate in numbers in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags at every demonstration and requests to the finest aspects within national heritage.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and receive them or not?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the finest about American history, similar to Christianity is best defended by reference to elements that cause it to be unique and magnificent, which is the example of the Savior. In neither case does it imply pretending the most damaging of both America and Christianity never occurred; it represents both humility and faith, a mixture that genuine American Christians ought to accept.
