Trumpism's most telling and characteristic occasions – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most threatening, nor stupidest, but potentially its most enlightening – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of several weeks, the US president commenced revealing all observers his plans for an ornate dance hall double the dimensions of 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 casualties resulting from his reductions to USAID is 600,000 and rising, and presently research projected his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities an additional 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No former leader would have dared – really, no former commander would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the executive mansion to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of some of the richest Americans, almost all of whom maintain dealings with the government.
We transitioned from 'the humble will receive the planet' toward 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As confusing as it is to observe the president seek to颠覆 the established notion regarding democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there is one large group within America who wouldn't consider it completely novel. This includes individuals like us – within elder demographics a near majority – who were educated as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched across decades while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we grew up with into the total contrary of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they turned a figure of love into a symbol of hate who endorses exactly the harshness that he criticized in biblical teachings; this change developed at a slower pace, across decades rather than months, but it is nonetheless unsettling via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Christ from my childhood, as conceptually Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and given that the fastest-growing cadre of Americans may possess limited understanding of him since they are atheists or uncertain individuals or religiously unaffiliated. I have no problem with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that contain precious wisdom of great price in the Christian story.
It is decidedly definitely not the story of a mighty king emerging; instead, a child comes into the world to parents without shelter in a storage space, who must quickly flee to another nation to evade undercover officers. The child matures in simple surroundings, a working carpenter; his doctrine is about love for fellow humans, specifically for the impoverished – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. Jesus' answer to violence is to offer the additional cheek – not as an act of submissive tolerance, but as a means to instruct the aggressor; his crime policy is that if a person pilfers your outer garment you should give the person your additional clothing as well.
The obvious and direct fact that Christ from scripture advocates for a kind of extreme compassion focused on the impoverished has perpetually caused Christian religion somewhat of a scandalous religion: attractive to the populace, but because of its inherent radicalness requiring to be controlled. In the fifties it was controlled by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Best Within Us
Hence I have become heartened to see the steadfast resistance regarding Trump develop in this past year. It has been significant comfort to participate in developing the movement that has taken to the streets through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired electorate to participate in large quantities in the off-year elections. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and requests to the finest aspects in US history.
We're going to be asked ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or reject?
America is best defended, essentially, by relationship to the finest in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured by relationship to elements that cause it to be unique and wonderful, which is the example of Christ. In all circumstances does it imply acting as if the most damaging regarding America and religious tradition did not happen; it represents both humility and faith, a mixture that genuine US believers should be comfortable with.
