Trumpism's most illuminating and distinctive moments – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. In the course of multiple weeks, the American president began displaying everyone his plans for a lavish reception room two times larger compared to the White House and then began unilaterally ripping down the eastern section to erect it.
He has committed acts countless times more severe – the current estimate of casualties from his cuts to USAID amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and presently research forecast his petroleum strategies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – really, no other president would have conceived – independently wrecking large sections of the White House in order to erect a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of some of America's wealthiest, the majority of whom maintain dealings with the government.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' toward 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to observe the president try to upend the established notion regarding democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there remains a substantial portion of Americans who might not perceive it completely novel. That is those of us – in older age cohorts a near majority – who were brought up as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched throughout the years while conservative evangelical congregations converted the Savior we learned about into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. Fundamentally, they transformed an image of love into a figure of animosity who endorses exactly the harshness that he condemned in the Gospel; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, through multiple decades rather than months, but it is nonetheless disturbing via comparable methods, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
Therefore allow me to outline the Christ that I grew up with, since in theory Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and because the rapidly expanding group of Americans could have minimal awareness about him since they are skeptics or doubters or nones. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that exist valuable insights of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is unquestionably not the narrative of a powerful ruler emerging; instead, a baby is born to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who need to rapidly escape to a different country to evade covert authorities. The infant develops in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his doctrine focuses on affection for fellow humans, especially for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and protecting. Jesus' answer to violence is to offer the additional cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a method to educate the attacker; his method regarding offenses is that if someone steals your coat you must offer the person your additional clothing also.
The evident and clear reality that Christ of the gospels advocates for a form of profound affection centered on the needy is what has always made Christian religion rather a scandalous religion: attractive to the general public, but due to its intrinsic extremism needing to be controlled. In the 1950s it was restrained through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so widespread that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Highest Among Us
Hence I have become inspired to witness the steadfast resistance to Trump emerge during the previous year. It has served as substantial consolation to participate in developing the movement that has protested openly in rally after rally, and appears to have motivated voters to participate in large quantities during minor elections. We will need to persist with it, and in the same spirit, with American flags at every demonstration and requests to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... how did you receive the immigrant? Did you welcome them and welcome him or reject?
The country is optimally secured, in other words, by reference to the best about American history, exactly as the Christian faith is best defended through connection to elements that cause it to be special and magnificent, specifically the model of the Savior. In both situations does it mean feigning the most negative regarding America and religious tradition never occurred; it means both modesty and belief, a combination that serious national faithful ought to accept.
