Trumpism's most illuminating and defining instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor stupidest, but perhaps its most illuminating – emerged earlier this harvest season. During the period of multiple weeks, the nation's leader began displaying all observers his intentions for a gilded ballroom double the dimensions compared to the White House and then began solo dismantling the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the present calculation of fatalities resulting from his reductions to USAID is 600,000 and growing, and recently a study forecast his fossil fuel policies would kill another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have dared – really, no former commander would have conceived – unilaterally destroying major areas of the White House to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of numerous the nation's most affluent, almost all of whom maintain dealings with the government.
We transitioned from 'the gentle will obtain the Earth' to 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the president try to upend the old idea about democracy and exchange it with its complete opposite, there is one large group within America who wouldn't consider it totally unfamiliar. That encompasses people such as ourselves – within elder demographics close to half – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed over the years as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we learned about into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they transformed an image of compassion into a figure of hate who blesses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in biblical teachings; this has happened more slowly, through multiple decades instead of months, yet it remains unsettling through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Christ from my childhood, because theoretically Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and because the rapidly expanding group among Americans may possess limited understanding of him since they are non-believers or uncertain individuals or nones. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably not the account of a powerful ruler arising; instead, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to avoid secret police. The child matures in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his teaching is about love for fellow humans, particularly for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and sheltering. Jesus' answer to aggression is to offer the additional cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a method to instruct the attacker; his crime policy is that if an individual takes your coat you must offer him your sweater also.
The obvious and clear truth that the Jesus from scripture calls for a type of profound affection centered on the poor has consistently rendered the Christian faith rather a controversial faith: engaging for the populace, but owing to its natural unconventionality requiring to be restrained. In the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Highest Among Us
Hence I have become heartened to observe the determined opposition to Trump develop during the previous year. It has served as substantial consolation to participate in developing the initiative that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to participate in numbers during minor elections. We shall require to continue it, and with identical determination, displaying national flags during all protests and calls to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... how did you receive the immigrant? Did you welcome them and welcome him or reject?
America is best defended, essentially, by reference to the best within national tradition, similar to Christianity is best defended by reference to that which renders it distinctive and magnificent, which is the example of Christ. In neither case does it mean pretending the worst of both America and Christianity never occurred; it signifies both modesty and faith, a blend that genuine American Christians should embrace.
