The Trump movement's most revealing and characteristic moments – not its most crucial, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. In the course of several weeks, the US president commenced revealing the public his plans for a gilded ballroom two times larger of the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the East Wing portion to construct it.
He has performed deeds ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of fatalities due to his slashing to international aid stands at 600,000 and increasing, and presently an analysis predicted his fossil fuel policies would kill another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have risked – really, no previous leader would have conceived – independently wrecking major areas of the executive mansion in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of multiple the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which conduct transactions with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the world' to 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the chief executive try to upend the established notion regarding democracy and replace it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment of Americans who wouldn't consider it entirely new. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched over the years as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we were raised with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they converted a persona of love into an icon of hostility who approves exactly the harshness that he denounced in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more gradually, across decades rather than months, however it is still unsettling in the same ways, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Damaging Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Christ from my upbringing, because theoretically Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and because the rapidly expanding group of Americans could have minimal awareness of him as they consider themselves atheists or agnostics or spiritual independents. I take no issue with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that there are pearls of significant worth in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably absolutely not the narrative of an authoritative monarch arising; conversely, a baby is born to homeless parents in a storage space, who must quickly flee to a different country to evade covert authorities. The baby grows up in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his doctrine concerns compassion for fellow humans, particularly for the disadvantaged – not simply tender feelings, but tangible care, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. Christ's response to aggression is to offer the other cheek – not as a demonstration of compliant endurance, but as a means to teach the assailant; his crime policy states that when a person pilfers your outer garment you should give him your sweater too.
The obvious and direct truth that the Jesus from scripture advocates for a form of radical love centered on the needy has perpetually caused the Christian faith somewhat of a scandalous religion: appealing to the general public, but owing to its natural unconventionality requiring to be controlled. In the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Battle for the Best Among Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to observe the steadfast resistance to Trump emerge during the previous year. It has provided significant comfort to help build the movement that has demonstrated publicly in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated citizens to turn out in significant amounts in the off-year elections. We will need to persist with it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners at every demonstration and appeals to the highest qualities of American history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you receive him and welcome him or refuse?
The nation is most protected, in other words, by relationship to the highest in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is best defended by relationship to elements that cause it to be unique and beautiful, which is the example of the Savior. In both situations does it suggest feigning the worst about the nation and Christianity did not happen; it means both humility and faith, a mixture that serious US believers ought to accept.
