Trumpism's most illuminating and characteristic moments – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor stupidest, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president started showing all observers his designs for a lavish reception room double the dimensions compared to the White House and then began solo dismantling the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the existing assessment of casualties resulting from his reductions to foreign assistance is 600,000 and rising, and this week an analysis predicted his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities an additional 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No other president would have dared – truly, no previous leader would have imagined – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the executive mansion to build a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of numerous the richest Americans, nearly all of which have business with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the planet' into 'the gentle will succumb of cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the chief executive try to upend the established notion about democracy and substitute it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment within America who should not find it entirely new. That is those of us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed throughout the years as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we learned about into the total contrary of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they transformed an image of compassion into a figure of hostility who endorses specifically the brutality that he criticized in biblical teachings; this has happened at a slower pace, through multiple decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless unsettling via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Christ from my childhood, because theoretically the Savior is the core of any Christian faith, and since the rapidly expanding group among Americans might have little sense regarding him since they are atheists or uncertain individuals or nones. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; however I believe that there are pearls of significant worth in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably not the story of a mighty king appearing; conversely, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to a foreign land to avoid secret police. The child matures in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his message is about love for others, specifically for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and housing. Jesus' answer to violence is to turn the other cheek – not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a method to instruct the aggressor; his method regarding offenses states that when someone steals your jacket you must offer him your sweater as well.
The obvious and clear fact that Christ in biblical accounts calls for a kind of radical love centered on the needy has perpetually caused Christian religion something of a controversial faith: engaging for the general public, but due to its natural unconventionality demanding to be restrained. In the fifties it was restrained through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so prevalent that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Battle for the Highest Among Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to witness the steadfast resistance against Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has been substantial consolation to help build the initiative that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated voters to turn out in significant amounts in the off-year elections. We will need to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags during all protests and calls to the best parts of American history.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you welcome them and embrace them or refuse?
The nation is most protected, in other words, by reference to the highest about American history, similar to Christianity is best defended by reference to that which renders it special and magnificent, specifically the model of Jesus. In neither case does it suggest feigning the worst of both America and Christianity did not happen; it means both modesty and belief, a combination that committed national faithful should be comfortable with.
