The Trump movement's most revealing and characteristic moments – not its most crucial, nor most brutal, nor most threatening, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – emerged earlier this harvest season. Over the span of several weeks, the American president began displaying all observers his plans for an ornate dance hall twice the size than the White House and then began independently demolishing the eastern section to build it.
He has done things ten thousand times worse – the existing assessment of casualties due to his slashing to USAID amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and presently a study projected his fossil fuel policies would kill an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – genuinely, no previous leader would have conceived – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the executive mansion in order to erect a Versailles-style party room, with the active collaboration of numerous America's wealthiest, almost all of whom have business with federal agencies.
We moved from 'the humble will receive the planet' toward 'the humble will perish from cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the chief executive attempt to overturn the traditional concept of democracy and substitute it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment within America who wouldn't consider it entirely new. That encompasses people such as ourselves – within elder demographics a near majority – who were educated within mainstream Protestant traditions.
We have witnessed over the years while conservative evangelical congregations turned the Jesus we were raised with into the total contrary of our perception of his character. Essentially, they transformed an image of affection into a symbol of hostility who blesses specifically the brutality that he denounced in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more gradually, across decades rather than months, yet it remains disturbing via comparable methods, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.
A Harmful Christianity Establishes Itself
Therefore allow me to outline the Christ from my upbringing, as conceptually Christ is the focus within Christian belief, and given that the quickly increasing segment among Americans could have minimal awareness about him since they are atheists or doubters 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 significant worth in the Christian story.
It is decidedly not the story of a mighty king appearing; rather, an infant arrives to parents without shelter in an automotive shelter, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to evade undercover officers. The child matures in humble circumstances, an employed craftsman; his teaching focuses on affection for others, especially for the disadvantaged – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. The Savior's reaction to violence is to present the other cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a method to educate the attacker; his crime policy indicates that whenever someone steals your coat you should give the person your additional clothing as well.
The apparent and clear truth that the Jesus from scripture calls for a type of radical love focused on the poor is what has always made Christianity something of a controversial faith: engaging for the populace, but because of its intrinsic extremism demanding to be restrained. During the 1950s it was controlled via weakening – Protestantism was so widespread that it essentially sanctified existing conditions.
A Conflict for the Best of Us
Hence I have become encouraged to observe the steadfast resistance regarding Trump emerge during the previous year. It has provided significant comfort to help build the campaign that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and appears to have motivated citizens to show up in large quantities in interim political contests. We shall require to continue it, and through comparable resolve, displaying national flags throughout each rally and requests to the best parts within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... about how you treated the immigrant? Did you receive him and welcome him or refuse?
The country is optimally secured, to put it differently, through connection to the highest in US heritage, exactly as the Christian faith is most protected by reference to that which renders it unique and magnificent, particularly the pattern of Christ. In all circumstances does it mean acting as if the worst regarding America and Christian faith never occurred; it signifies both modesty and belief, a blend that committed US believers should embrace.
