The Trump movement's most revealing and characteristic instances – not its most significant, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but perhaps its most illuminating – emerged earlier this harvest season. In the course of several weeks, the US president commenced revealing the public his intentions for a gilded ballroom two times larger compared to the White House and subsequently started independently demolishing the East Wing to erect it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the existing assessment of fatalities resulting from his reductions to international aid stands at 600,000 and growing, and recently an analysis projected his fossil fuel policies would kill 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have dared – genuinely, no previous leader would have contemplated – solo demolishing major areas of the executive mansion in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of numerous the nation's most affluent, almost all of whom have business with the government.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the Earth' toward 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the chief executive attempt to overturn the traditional concept about democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there is one large group of Americans who should not find it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us – among senior generations almost a majority – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our understanding of him. Fundamentally, they converted a persona of love into a symbol of hostility who blesses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in scripture; this has happened more gradually, through multiple decades rather than months, however it is still unsettling through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Damaging Christianity Gains Ground
So let me first describe the Savior that I grew up with, since in theory the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and since the rapidly expanding group within America might have little sense about him since they are skeptics or agnostics or spiritual independents. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; but I do think that there are pearls of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is emphatically definitely not the narrative of a mighty king appearing; instead, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to avoid undercover officers. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, an employed craftsman; his message is about love for others, especially for the impoverished – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. Christ's response to hostility is to turn the additional cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his crime policy states that when a person pilfers your jacket you ought to provide the person your additional clothing too.
The apparent and clear truth that the Savior in biblical accounts requests a kind of extreme compassion concentrated on the poor has perpetually caused the Christian faith something of a provocative belief system: attractive to the general public, but because of its intrinsic extremism needing to be controlled. In the 1950s it was restrained by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so prevalent that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Battle for the Best Within Us
So I have been heartened to see the determined opposition against Trump arise in this past year. It has been substantial consolation to participate in developing the campaign that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired voters to participate in significant amounts in the off-year elections. We will need to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, displaying national flags at every demonstration and calls to the finest aspects of American history.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the immigrant? Did you receive him and embrace them or reject?
The country is optimally secured, essentially, by relationship to the highest about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is best defended through connection to elements that cause it to be special and wonderful, specifically the model of Christ. In neither case does it mean pretending the most damaging regarding America and Christian faith never occurred; it means both meekness and conviction, a blend that genuine national faithful should be comfortable with.
