The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and defining moments – not its most crucial, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. In the course of a few weeks, the US president began displaying everyone his intentions for a lavish reception room twice the size compared to the White House and then began independently demolishing the East Wing portion to build it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the current estimate of fatalities from his cuts to international aid is 600,000 and rising, and recently an analysis forecast his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – genuinely, no former commander would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying large sections of the presidential residence in order to erect a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of some of the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which have business with the government.
We went from 'the humble will receive the planet' toward 'the gentle will succumb of cholera'
As disorienting as it is to observe the chief executive attempt to overturn the established notion about democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion among Americans who should not find it entirely new. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were brought up as conventional Protestant believers.
We have witnessed throughout the years as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we were raised with into the complete reverse of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they transformed an image of affection into an icon of animosity who endorses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in the Gospel; this has happened at a slower pace, across decades rather than months, however it is still unsettling through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Gains Ground
Hence I shall explain the Jesus from my childhood, because theoretically Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and because the fastest-growing cadre of Americans could have minimal awareness regarding him since they are non-believers or uncertain individuals or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with different religions; yet I maintain that there are pearls of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically absolutely not the story of a mighty king appearing; conversely, a baby is born to homeless parents in a garage, who must quickly flee to a foreign land to evade covert authorities. The infant develops in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his teaching focuses on affection for other people, particularly for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, expressed by feeding and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to offer the opposite cheek – not as an act of compliant endurance, but as a means to teach the assailant; his method regarding offenses states that when a person pilfers your coat you ought to provide him your sweater as well.
The evident and clear fact that the Jesus in biblical accounts calls for a kind of radical love centered on the poor is what has always made Christianity something of a controversial faith: attractive to the populace, but because of its inherent radicalness requiring to be restrained. In the fifties it was contained through watering down – Protestantism was so dominant that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Best Among Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to see the steadfast resistance to Trump arise in this past year. It has served as significant comfort to participate in developing the movement that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and seems to have inspired electorate to show up in large quantities in the off-year elections. We will need to continue it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners at every demonstration and requests to the best parts of American history.
We will be questioned ... about how you treated the foreigner? Did you welcome them and embrace them or not?
America is best defended, in other words, by relationship to the highest about American history, similar to Christianity is best defended by relationship to that which renders it special and wonderful, particularly the pattern of Jesus. In both situations does it mean pretending the most negative of both America and Christianity was nonexistent; it represents both humility and belief, a combination that genuine American Christians should embrace.
