The Trump movement's most telling and distinctive occasions – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. In the course of multiple weeks, the American president commenced revealing the public his intentions for a lavish reception room double the dimensions of the White House and then commenced independently demolishing the East Wing to build it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of casualties due to his slashing to USAID amounts to 600,000 and growing, and recently research forecast his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have risked – really, no other president would have conceived – solo demolishing significant portions of the presidential residence to build a royal-themed celebration hall, with the direct cooperation of some of America's wealthiest, almost all of whom conduct transactions with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the gentle will obtain the Earth' toward 'the meek shall die to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the president try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there is one large group of Americans who wouldn't consider it completely novel. That encompasses people such as ourselves – within elder demographics a near majority – who were educated as conventional Protestant believers.
We have witnessed over the years as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we grew up with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Essentially, they transformed an image of compassion into an icon of hostility who approves exactly the harshness that he condemned in scripture; this has happened more gradually, across decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disturbing through similar means, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, as conceptually Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and because the fastest-growing cadre of Americans might have little sense of him since they are atheists or uncertain individuals or religiously unaffiliated. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; however I believe that there are pearls of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably not the narrative of an authoritative monarch emerging; instead, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in a storage space, who must quickly flee to a different country to escape secret police. The infant develops in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his doctrine focuses on affection for fellow humans, especially for the impoverished – and not a sentimental love, but tangible care, expressed by feeding and protecting. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to present the opposite cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a way to instruct the attacker; his crime policy states that when someone steals your coat you should give the person your additional clothing also.
The evident and straightforward fact that Christ in biblical accounts requests a kind of extreme compassion concentrated on the poor has perpetually caused Christianity somewhat of a controversial faith: appealing to the general public, but due to its intrinsic extremism needing to be controlled. During the 1950s it was restrained through watering down – Protestantism was so dominant that it basically blessed current circumstances.
A Conflict for the Finest of Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to observe the steadfast resistance regarding Trump arise in this past year. It has served as significant comfort to assist in constructing the movement that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired electorate to turn out in significant amounts in interim political contests. We shall require to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags throughout each rally and calls to the finest aspects in US history.
We shall be interrogated ... regarding how you welcomed the foreigner? Did you receive him and receive them or reject?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, through connection to the best within national tradition, similar to Christianity is optimally secured by reference to that which renders it distinctive and beautiful, specifically the model of Christ. In all circumstances does it mean feigning the most negative regarding America and Christianity never occurred; it means both meekness and belief, a mixture that committed American Christians ought to accept.
