The Trump movement's most illuminating and defining occasions – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of several weeks, the US president commenced revealing all observers his intentions for a gilded ballroom two times larger than the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing to build it.
He has committed acts ten thousand times worse – the existing assessment of casualties resulting from his reductions to international aid amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and presently an analysis projected his energy policies would kill 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have risked – genuinely, no previous leader would have conceived – solo demolishing significant portions of the presidential residence to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of multiple the richest Americans, the majority of whom have business with the government.
We transitioned from 'the humble will receive the Earth' into 'the gentle will succumb to cholera'
As confusing as it is to observe the leader attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there is one large group among Americans who should not find it completely novel. That encompasses people such as ourselves – within elder demographics close to half – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations converted the Savior we learned about into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. Fundamentally, they converted a persona of compassion into a figure of hostility who endorses exactly the harshness that he denounced in the Gospel; this has happened more slowly, across decades as opposed to months, however it is still disconcerting via comparable methods, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Hence I shall explain the Jesus from my upbringing, since in theory Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and because the quickly increasing segment among Americans could have minimal awareness about him as they consider themselves skeptics or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I take no issue with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that there are pearls of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically absolutely not the narrative of a powerful ruler appearing; conversely, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to another nation to escape covert authorities. The child matures in simple surroundings, a laboring woodworker; his message focuses on affection for fellow humans, particularly for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and housing. Jesus' answer to aggression is to offer the other cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a method to teach the aggressor; his method regarding offenses is that if a person pilfers your outer garment you should give them your pullover as well.
The evident and direct fact that the Savior in biblical accounts calls for a type of profound affection focused on the needy has consistently rendered Christian religion somewhat of a provocative belief system: appealing to the masses, but owing to its intrinsic extremism needing to be controlled. In the 1950s it was contained via weakening – Protestant Christianity was so widespread that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Struggle for the Finest of Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to see the steadfast resistance against Trump emerge during the previous year. It has served as significant comfort to assist in constructing the movement that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged citizens to participate in numbers during minor elections. We shall require to continue it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners throughout each rally and appeals to the best parts within national heritage.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and receive them or refuse?
America is best defended, essentially, by relationship to the best in US heritage, similar to Christianity is optimally secured through connection to elements that cause it to be unique and beautiful, specifically the model of Christ. In neither case does it mean pretending the most negative about the nation and Christian faith did not happen; it represents both meekness and belief, a mixture that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
