Trumpism's most telling and distinctive moments – not its most significant, nor most harsh, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of multiple weeks, the American president began displaying everyone his intentions for a gilded ballroom two times larger than the White House and subsequently started independently demolishing the East Wing portion to build it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of deaths from his cuts to foreign assistance is 600,000 and growing, and presently research predicted his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have risked – really, no other president would have contemplated – solo demolishing major areas of the executive mansion in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of some of America's wealthiest, almost all of whom maintain dealings with public institutions.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' toward 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to watch the leader try to upend the old idea of democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion within America who wouldn't consider it completely novel. That is those of us – in older age cohorts close to half – who were brought up within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have observed throughout the years 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 love into a symbol of hostility who approves exactly the harshness that he criticized in the Gospel; this transformation occurred at a slower pace, across decades rather than months, yet it remains unsettling through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for numerous individuals.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Savior from my upbringing, because theoretically the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and because the rapidly expanding group of Americans might have little sense regarding him since they are non-believers or doubters or religiously unaffiliated. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; yet I maintain that exist valuable insights of substantial value in biblical accounts.
It is emphatically definitely not the narrative of a mighty king emerging; conversely, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a storage space, who are forced to hastily depart to another nation to escape undercover officers. The baby grows up in humble circumstances, an employed craftsman; his doctrine focuses on affection for fellow humans, particularly for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but tangible care, shown by providing food and protecting. Christ's response to violence is to turn the additional cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a way to educate the assailant; his approach to wrongdoing is that if a person pilfers your jacket you ought to provide the person your additional clothing too.
The obvious and straightforward fact that Christ from scripture calls for a form of extreme compassion focused on the poor is what has always made Christianity somewhat of a provocative belief system: appealing to the masses, but due to its intrinsic extremism needing to be restrained. In the 1950s it was controlled via weakening – Protestantism was so dominant that it practically baptized the status quo.
A Battle for the Highest of Us
Therefore I have felt heartened to witness the steadfast resistance against Trump arise during the previous year. It has provided great solace to assist in constructing the campaign that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated electorate to turn out in significant amounts in interim political contests. We must have to continue it, and through comparable resolve, displaying national flags during all protests and requests to the finest aspects within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the immigrant? Did you welcome them and welcome him or refuse?
America is best defended, essentially, by reference to the finest within national tradition, exactly as the Christian faith is optimally secured through connection to that which renders it special and wonderful, which is the example of the Savior. In neither case does it imply acting as if the most damaging regarding America and Christian faith was nonexistent; it represents both humility and conviction, a blend that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
