The Trump movement's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most important, nor cruelest, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but perhaps its most illuminating – came earlier this autumn. During the period of a few weeks, the US president started showing the public his plans for an ornate dance hall two times larger than the White House and then commenced solo dismantling the East Wing to erect it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the current estimate of deaths resulting from his reductions to USAID stands at 600,000 and increasing, and this week a study predicted his petroleum strategies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. However nothing as distinctive. No other president would have attempted – truly, no former commander would have contemplated – independently wrecking major areas of the White House in order to erect a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of some of the richest Americans, almost all of whom maintain dealings with public institutions.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' into 'the gentle will succumb of cholera'
As bewildering as it is to witness the president attempt to overturn the old idea regarding democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there is one large group of Americans who wouldn't consider it totally unfamiliar. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts close to half – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched across decades as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we learned about into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. Essentially, they transformed an image of compassion into a symbol of hate who endorses exactly the harshness that he condemned in the Gospel; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, across decades rather than months, however it is still disturbing through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Savior that I grew up with, because theoretically the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and since the fastest-growing cadre among Americans could have minimal awareness regarding him since they are atheists or agnostics or nones. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; but I do think that exist valuable insights of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically not the story of a powerful ruler arising; instead, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to a foreign land to avoid covert authorities. The infant develops in humble circumstances, an employed craftsman; his doctrine is about love for other people, specifically for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. The Savior's reaction to violence is to offer the other cheek – not as a demonstration of compliant endurance, but as a means to educate the assailant; his crime policy states that when an individual takes your coat you should give them your pullover too.
The apparent and direct truth that Christ in biblical accounts advocates for a type of radical love concentrated on the poor has consistently rendered Christianity somewhat of a scandalous religion: appealing to the populace, but owing to its natural unconventionality needing to be contained. In the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so prevalent that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Struggle for the Highest of Us
So I have been inspired to observe the determined opposition against Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has served as great solace to participate in developing the movement that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired voters to participate in large quantities during minor elections. We must have to continue it, and through comparable resolve, with American flags at every demonstration and requests to the best parts of American history.
We shall be interrogated ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you welcome them and welcome him or reject?
America is best defended, in other words, by reference to the highest within national tradition, just as Christianity is most protected by reference to what makes it unique and beautiful, which is the example of Christ. In both situations does it imply feigning the most negative regarding America and Christian faith never occurred; it signifies both meekness and faith, a combination that serious US believers ought to accept.
