Trumpism's most telling and characteristic instances – not its most significant, nor cruelest, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president commenced revealing the public his plans for a gilded ballroom two times larger compared to the White House and subsequently started unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to construct it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of casualties resulting from his reductions to international aid is 600,000 and increasing, and presently an analysis projected his fossil fuel policies would kill an additional 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No other president would have risked – truly, no former commander would have imagined – independently wrecking major areas of the presidential residence to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of numerous the nation's most affluent, nearly all of which maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the gentle will obtain the world' into 'the gentle will succumb from cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader try to upend the traditional concept of democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there is one large group within America who should not find it totally unfamiliar. That encompasses people such as ourselves – within elder demographics a near majority – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed over the years as politically conservative religious groups converted the Savior we grew up with into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. At its most basic, they turned a figure of love into a figure of hate who blesses exactly the harshness that he condemned in scripture; this transformation occurred more slowly, through multiple decades rather than months, however it is still disconcerting through similar means, a confusing personal impact for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Savior that I grew up with, as conceptually Jesus is the center of Christian religion, and since the rapidly expanding group within America could have minimal awareness of him as they consider themselves non-believers or agnostics or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with different religions; but I do think that there are pearls of significant worth within Christian narrative.
It is unquestionably absolutely not the story of an authoritative monarch appearing; rather, a child comes into the world to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to evade covert authorities. The baby grows up in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his doctrine concerns compassion for others, particularly for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, expressed by feeding and housing. Jesus' answer to aggression is to present the additional cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a means to educate the assailant; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever someone steals your outer garment you must offer them your pullover too.
The apparent and direct truth that the Savior of the gospels requests a kind of extreme compassion focused on the impoverished has perpetually caused Christianity somewhat of a scandalous religion: engaging for the general public, but owing to its intrinsic extremism requiring to be controlled. In the 1950s it was restrained via weakening – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it essentially baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Best of Us
So I have been heartened to observe the persistent defiance against Trump arise in this past year. It has served as significant comfort to assist in constructing the movement that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated voters to participate in large quantities in interim political contests. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners during all protests and appeals to the best parts of American history.
We're going to be asked ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and receive them or refuse?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, by reference to the best in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured by reference to elements that cause it to be unique and wonderful, specifically the model of Jesus. In neither case does it mean pretending the most damaging of both America and religious tradition was nonexistent; it represents both meekness and belief, a blend that committed national faithful should embrace.
