Trumpism's most revealing and distinctive instances – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of a few weeks, the American president started showing the public his designs for a lavish reception room twice the size compared to the White House and then began independently demolishing the East Wing to build it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the existing assessment of fatalities due to his slashing to USAID stands at 600,000 and growing, and this week a study forecast his fossil fuel policies would kill another 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No other president would have dared – genuinely, no other president would have conceived – solo demolishing large sections of the presidential residence to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of multiple the richest Americans, nearly all of which maintain dealings with public institutions.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' toward 'the gentle will succumb of cholera'
As confusing as it is to watch the president attempt to overturn the established notion about democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there exists a significant segment of Americans who should not find it entirely new. This includes individuals like us – among senior generations close to half – who were raised as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we were raised with into exactly the opposite of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they converted a persona of love into an icon of hate who endorses precisely the cruelties that he criticized in scripture; this has happened more slowly, over decades as opposed to months, however it is still disturbing through similar means, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Gains Ground
Therefore allow me to outline the Jesus from my upbringing, because theoretically Christ is the focus of Christian religion, and since the quickly increasing segment of Americans might have little sense about him since they are skeptics or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that there are pearls of substantial value in the Christian story.
It is emphatically definitely not the account of a powerful ruler appearing; instead, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to a different country to escape secret police. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, an employed craftsman; his doctrine focuses on affection for others, especially for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, shown by providing food and housing. Jesus' answer to hostility is to offer the opposite cheek – not as an act of submissive tolerance, but as a means to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses states that when a person pilfers your outer garment you ought to provide him your sweater also.
The obvious and straightforward fact that the Jesus in biblical accounts calls for a type of radical love centered on the needy has perpetually caused Christian religion somewhat of a controversial faith: appealing to the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness requiring to be restrained. In the 1950s it was restrained through watering down – Protestantism was so prevalent that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Best of Us
So I have been encouraged to witness the steadfast resistance against Trump arise in this past year. It has provided substantial consolation to help build the campaign that has protested openly via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated electorate to participate in significant amounts during minor elections. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners throughout each rally and calls to the finest aspects within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... how did you receive the immigrant? Did you welcome them and receive them or reject?
The nation is most protected, essentially, through connection to the best in US heritage, similar to Christianity is most protected through connection to what makes it unique and wonderful, which is the example of Christ. In neither case does it imply feigning the most negative regarding America and Christian faith did not happen; it represents both humility and faith, a blend that serious American Christians should embrace.
