Trumpism's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – occurred earlier this fall. During the period of several weeks, the American president started showing everyone his plans for an ornate dance hall two times larger compared to 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 resulting from his reductions to foreign assistance is 600,000 and rising, and presently an analysis forecast his petroleum strategies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. However nothing as distinctive. No other president would have dared – truly, no previous leader would have conceived – unilaterally destroying large sections of the White House to build a Versailles-style party room, with the direct cooperation of numerous the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which have business with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the Earth' into 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader try to upend the traditional concept regarding democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion within America who wouldn't consider it totally unfamiliar. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts almost a majority – who were brought up within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched across decades as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we learned about into the total contrary of our understanding of him. Essentially, they converted a persona of affection into a figure of animosity who blesses exactly the harshness that he denounced in scripture; this transformation occurred more gradually, across decades as opposed to months, yet it remains disconcerting via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for countless people.
A Damaging Christianity Takes Hold
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my childhood, since in theory the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and because the quickly increasing segment within America might have little sense of him as they consider themselves skeptics or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically absolutely not the story of a mighty king arising; conversely, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to a foreign land to avoid secret police. The child matures in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his message is about love for fellow humans, especially for the impoverished – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and housing. Jesus' answer to aggression is to offer the opposite cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a means to teach the assailant; his method regarding offenses is that if a person pilfers your coat you should give the person your additional clothing too.
The apparent and direct reality that the Savior of the gospels advocates for a form of profound affection focused on the impoverished has consistently rendered Christianity something of a scandalous religion: appealing to the general public, but because of its inherent radicalness needing to be controlled. During the 1950s it was controlled through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it essentially sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Highest Among Us
So I have been heartened to see the steadfast resistance regarding Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has provided substantial consolation to assist in constructing the initiative that has protested openly in rally after rally, and likely has encouraged electorate to participate in numbers during minor elections. We will need to continue it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners at every demonstration and requests to the finest aspects within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or refuse?
America is best defended, to put it differently, by reference to the finest about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is best defended through connection to what makes it unique and wonderful, which is the example of the Savior. In neither case does it mean acting as if the worst of both America and religious tradition did not happen; it represents both modesty and faith, a mixture that committed US believers should be comfortable with.
