Trumpism's most illuminating and defining instances – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president began displaying all observers his designs for an ornate dance hall twice the size of the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to build it.
He has committed acts ten thousand times worse – the existing assessment of deaths from his cuts to USAID amounts to 600,000 and rising, and recently an analysis forecast his energy policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No previous president would have attempted – really, no former commander would have imagined – unilaterally destroying large sections of the presidential residence in order to erect a royal-themed celebration hall, with the enthusiastic participation of numerous America's wealthiest, the majority of whom conduct transactions with public institutions.
We moved from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' into 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As confusing as it is to watch the chief executive try to upend the established notion of democracy and substitute it with its polar opposite, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who wouldn't consider it totally unfamiliar. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts a near majority – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed across decades as politically conservative religious groups turned the Jesus we grew up with into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. Essentially, they turned a figure of affection into a symbol of animosity who blesses precisely the cruelties that he denounced in scripture; this has happened at a slower pace, through multiple decades rather than months, yet it remains disconcerting through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
Hence I shall explain the Jesus that I grew up with, as conceptually Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and given that the quickly increasing segment among Americans might have little sense regarding him because they identify as skeptics or doubters or nones. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with different religions; however I believe that contain precious wisdom of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is decidedly not the narrative of a mighty king arising; instead, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to avoid secret police. The child matures in simple surroundings, a working carpenter; his message focuses on affection for fellow humans, particularly for the impoverished – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. Jesus' answer to aggression is to present the other cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a method to instruct the attacker; his crime policy indicates that whenever a person pilfers your coat you must offer him your sweater also.
The evident and clear truth that the Savior from scripture calls for a form of radical love centered on the poor is what has always made Christian religion something of a scandalous religion: attractive to the populace, but because of its inherent radicalness requiring to be restrained. In the 1950s it was contained through watering down – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Struggle for the Highest Within Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to observe the persistent defiance to Trump develop in this past year. It has served as significant comfort to assist in constructing the campaign that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged citizens to participate in numbers during minor elections. We must have to persist with it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags at every demonstration and appeals to the best parts of American history.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the stranger? Did you receive him and receive them or refuse?
America is best defended, in other words, by reference to the best in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is most protected by reference to that which renders it special and magnificent, which is the example of Jesus. In both situations does it mean pretending the worst regarding America and religious tradition did not happen; it represents both modesty and belief, a mixture that serious national faithful ought to accept.
