The Trump movement's most illuminating and characteristic instances – not its most significant, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. In the course of multiple weeks, the US president started showing all observers his plans for an ornate dance hall twice the size than the White House and subsequently started independently demolishing the eastern section to construct it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the current estimate of deaths resulting from his reductions to foreign assistance stands at 600,000 and rising, and recently research forecast his energy policies would cause deaths an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have attempted – genuinely, no other president would have imagined – solo demolishing significant portions of the presidential residence to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, nearly all of which conduct transactions with the government.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' toward 'the humble will perish of cholera'
As disorienting as it is to watch the president attempt to overturn the established notion of democracy and exchange it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment among Americans who might not perceive it entirely new. That is those of us – within elder demographics close to half – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have watched across decades as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we were raised with into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. Essentially, they transformed an image of affection into a figure of hate who blesses exactly the harshness that he condemned in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, through multiple decades rather than months, however it is still disconcerting through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Damaging Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Savior that I grew up with, because theoretically Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and because the rapidly expanding group of Americans might have little sense regarding him as they consider themselves non-believers or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; but I do think that contain precious wisdom of significant worth within Christian narrative.
It is decidedly definitely not the narrative of a mighty king arising; instead, a baby is born to homeless parents in a storage space, who must quickly flee to another nation to avoid secret police. The child matures in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his teaching is about love for fellow humans, particularly for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. The Savior's reaction to violence is to turn the opposite cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a method to educate the attacker; his crime policy is that if someone steals your jacket you should give him your sweater also.
The obvious and clear truth that Christ from scripture advocates for a kind of radical love focused on the impoverished is what has always made the Christian faith rather a provocative belief system: engaging for the populace, but due to its natural unconventionality requiring to be controlled. In the fifties it was contained through watering down – The Protestant faith was so dominant that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Best of Us
Hence I have become inspired to see the determined opposition regarding Trump arise in this past year. It has been great solace to help build the movement that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and seems to have inspired voters to participate in significant amounts in interim political contests. We shall require to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, displaying national flags at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities of American history.
We shall be interrogated ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you receive him and receive them or reject?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, through connection to the best in US heritage, just as Christianity is most protected by reference to elements that cause it to be distinctive and beautiful, which is the example of the Savior. In all circumstances does it suggest feigning the worst regarding America and Christianity did not happen; it represents both modesty and belief, a combination that committed American Christians ought to accept.
