The Trump movement's most illuminating and characteristic moments – not its most important, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of several weeks, the nation's leader commenced revealing everyone his plans for a gilded ballroom two times larger than the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the East Wing to build it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of fatalities resulting from his reductions to international aid stands at 600,000 and increasing, and this week an analysis projected his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have dared – genuinely, no previous leader would have imagined – solo demolishing significant portions of the presidential residence to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of some of the richest Americans, nearly all of which conduct transactions with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the planet' into 'the humble will perish to cholera'
As bewildering as it is to witness the president attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment within America who might not perceive it entirely new. That is those of us – within elder demographics almost a majority – who were educated as conventional Protestant believers.
We have witnessed over the years as rightwing evangelical churches transformed the Christ we learned about into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they turned a figure of affection into a figure of hostility who blesses exactly the harshness that he condemned in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more gradually, through multiple decades rather than months, yet it remains disturbing in the same ways, a disorienting gut punch for numerous individuals.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Christ from my upbringing, since in theory Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and because the fastest-growing cadre among Americans could have minimal awareness of him because they identify as skeptics or uncertain individuals or nones. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that exist valuable insights of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is unquestionably not the account of a mighty king appearing; instead, a baby is born to homeless parents in a storage space, who must quickly flee to another nation to escape covert authorities. The baby grows up in modest conditions, a working carpenter; his doctrine focuses on affection for others, specifically for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and housing. Jesus' answer to violence is to offer the additional cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a way to teach the attacker; his method regarding offenses states that when someone steals your coat you should give the person your additional clothing also.
The evident and clear truth that the Jesus from scripture requests a type of radical love focused on the impoverished has perpetually caused the Christian faith rather a provocative belief system: attractive to the populace, but owing to its inherent radicalness demanding to be controlled. During the 1950s it was controlled via weakening – The Protestant faith was so widespread that it essentially blessed current circumstances.
A Battle for the Best Among Us
So I have been inspired to see the steadfast resistance against Trump emerge during the previous year. It has served as substantial consolation to assist in constructing the initiative that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and appears to have motivated electorate to participate in significant amounts during minor elections. We will need to persist with it, and with identical determination, with American flags during all protests and calls to the highest qualities in US history.
We're going to be asked ... regarding how you welcomed the foreigner? Did you welcome them and receive them or not?
America is best defended, essentially, by relationship to the finest within national tradition, just as Christianity is most protected by relationship to elements that cause it to be special and magnificent, specifically the model of the Savior. In all circumstances does it suggest pretending the worst about the nation and Christianity was nonexistent; it represents both modesty and belief, a blend that genuine national faithful should embrace.
