Trumpism's most revealing and defining instances – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of several weeks, the American president commenced revealing everyone his plans for a gilded ballroom double the dimensions compared to the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the current estimate of deaths from his cuts to foreign assistance is 600,000 and rising, and this week a study forecast his energy policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. However nothing as distinctive. No former leader would have dared – genuinely, no other president 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, nearly all of which maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the Earth' into 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As confusing as it is to watch the president attempt to overturn the old idea of democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment within America who wouldn't consider it completely novel. That is those of us – among senior generations close to half – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we grew up with into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. Essentially, they converted a persona of love into a symbol of animosity who blesses specifically the brutality that he condemned 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 numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my upbringing, as conceptually Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and given that the rapidly expanding group of Americans could have minimal awareness about him because they identify as non-believers or agnostics or nones. I have no problem with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is decidedly absolutely not the narrative of an authoritative monarch arising; instead, a baby is born to homeless parents in a storage space, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to avoid covert authorities. The infant develops in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his teaching focuses on affection for other people, specifically for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Jesus' answer to violence is to turn the additional cheek – not as an act of passive acceptance, but as a method to instruct the aggressor; his crime policy states that when someone steals your coat you must offer the person your additional clothing as well.
The obvious and clear truth that the Jesus from scripture requests a type of radical love concentrated on the needy is what has always made Christianity something of a scandalous religion: engaging for the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness needing to be restrained. In the 1950s it was contained through watering down – The Protestant faith was so prevalent that it essentially sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Best Within Us
So I have been inspired to observe the determined opposition to Trump develop in this past year. It has provided significant comfort to assist in constructing the campaign that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to participate in numbers in interim political contests. We shall require to continue it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags at every demonstration and requests to the best parts within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the immigrant? Did you receive him and welcome him or refuse?
The nation is most protected, essentially, by relationship to the finest within national tradition, just as Christianity is best defended through connection to what makes it distinctive and magnificent, particularly the pattern of Jesus. In both situations does it suggest pretending the most negative of both America and Christianity was nonexistent; it represents both meekness and faith, a combination that serious US believers should be comfortable with.
