The Trump movement's most revealing and characteristic instances – not its most significant, nor cruelest, nor most threatening, nor most foolish, but perhaps its most illuminating – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of multiple weeks, the US president started showing the public his intentions for a lavish reception room twice the size compared to the White House and subsequently started independently demolishing the eastern section to build it.
He has performed deeds countless times more severe – the current estimate of fatalities from his cuts to foreign assistance stands at 600,000 and increasing, and recently a study predicted his petroleum strategies would cause deaths 1.3 million more. But nothing as definitional. No former leader would have attempted – genuinely, no other president would have contemplated – independently wrecking major areas of the White House in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of multiple America's wealthiest, the majority of whom have business with the government.
We went from 'the gentle will obtain the world' into 'the gentle will succumb of cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the president seek to颠覆 the traditional concept regarding democracy and substitute it with its direct contrary, there remains a substantial portion within America who might not perceive it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – in older age cohorts a near majority – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have observed over the years as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we were raised with into exactly the opposite of who we understood him to be. At its most basic, they turned a figure of love into a figure of animosity who endorses exactly the harshness that he condemned in scripture; this change developed more slowly, over decades instead of months, yet it remains disconcerting via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Savior that I grew up with, as conceptually the Savior is the core of Christian religion, and because the quickly increasing segment among Americans may possess limited understanding of him as they consider themselves atheists or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; yet I maintain that there are pearls of significant worth in the Christian story.
It is unquestionably not the story of a mighty king arising; conversely, an infant arrives to homeless parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a different country to escape covert authorities. The infant develops in modest conditions, an employed craftsman; his teaching is about love for other people, particularly for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but tangible care, expressed by feeding and housing. Christ's response to violence is to offer the other cheek – not as a demonstration of submissive tolerance, but as a way to instruct the attacker; his approach to wrongdoing is that if someone steals your jacket you must offer the person your additional clothing also.
The apparent and straightforward truth that Christ from scripture calls for a form of extreme compassion concentrated on the impoverished has consistently rendered Christian religion something of a provocative belief system: engaging for the masses, but due to its intrinsic extremism needing to be contained. During the 1950s it was controlled by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it basically sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Best Among Us
Therefore I have felt inspired to witness the steadfast resistance to Trump arise in this past year. It has provided great solace to assist in constructing the movement that has demonstrated publicly via continuous gatherings, and likely has encouraged electorate to turn out in large quantities in the off-year elections. We must have to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners throughout each rally and calls to the highest qualities in US history.
We will be questioned ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or reject?
The country is optimally secured, in other words, by reference to the finest about American history, just as Christianity is optimally secured through connection to elements that cause it to be unique and wonderful, specifically the model of Jesus. In both situations does it mean feigning the most damaging regarding America and Christianity never occurred; it represents both meekness and conviction, a combination that genuine US believers should be comfortable with.
