The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and distinctive moments β not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing β occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president started showing all observers his designs for a gilded ballroom two times larger of the White House and then began solo dismantling the East Wing to build it.
He has performed deeds ten thousand times worse β the current estimate of casualties resulting from his reductions to foreign assistance stands at 600,000 and increasing, and presently an analysis predicted his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have risked β really, no former commander would have contemplated β solo demolishing significant portions of the executive mansion in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the active collaboration of some of America's wealthiest, nearly all of which have business with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the humble will receive the planet' toward 'the gentle will succumb of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the president seek toι’ θ¦ the traditional concept regarding democracy and replace it with its polar opposite, there remains a substantial portion within America who might not perceive it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us β within elder demographics a near majority β who were brought up as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched over the years as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we grew up with into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they converted a persona of compassion into a symbol of hostility who endorses exactly the harshness that he condemned in the Gospel; this change developed at a slower pace, across decades instead of months, yet it remains disturbing in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
Hence I shall explain the Christ from my upbringing, because theoretically the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and given that the rapidly expanding group of Americans could have minimal awareness about him since they are atheists or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I take no issue with these various perspectives, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically absolutely not the narrative of an authoritative monarch arising; instead, an infant arrives to homeless parents in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to escape secret police. The child matures in simple surroundings, a working carpenter; his message concerns compassion for other people, especially for the poor β not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to present the opposite cheek β not as a gesture of compliant endurance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his method regarding offenses is that if a person pilfers your outer garment you should give the person your additional clothing as well.
The evident and clear fact that the Savior in biblical accounts calls for a type of extreme compassion focused on the poor has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a controversial faith: attractive to the masses, but due to its natural unconventionality requiring to be controlled. In the 1950s it was controlled via weakening β The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it basically baptized the status quo.
A Conflict for the Finest of Us
Hence I have become encouraged to observe the steadfast resistance regarding Trump emerge in this past year. It has served as great solace to participate in developing the movement that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and likely has encouraged voters to show up in significant amounts in the off-year elections. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and appeals to the finest aspects of American history.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the immigrant? Did you receive him and embrace them or reject?
America is best defended, in other words, through connection to the highest in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is best defended by reference to elements that cause it to be unique and wonderful, specifically the model of Jesus. In both situations does it mean feigning the most negative regarding America and religious tradition did not happen; it represents both meekness and belief, a blend that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
