The Trump phenomenon's most telling and characteristic moments – not its most significant, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but possibly its most revealing – emerged earlier this harvest season. In the course of several weeks, the US president started showing all observers his designs for an ornate dance hall two times larger compared to the White House and then began solo dismantling the East Wing to construct it.
He has done things countless times more severe – the current estimate of deaths due to his slashing to foreign assistance is 600,000 and rising, and recently an analysis forecast his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities 1.3 million more. Yet nothing as characteristic. No other president would have risked – truly, no previous leader would have contemplated – unilaterally destroying significant portions of the White House to build a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the enthusiastic participation of some of the nation's most affluent, the majority of whom have business with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the gentle will obtain the world' into 'the meek shall die from cholera'
As disorienting as it is to witness the president attempt to overturn the established notion of democracy and substitute it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment within America who should not find it entirely new. That is those of us – within elder demographics a near majority – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have watched across decades as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we grew up with into exactly the opposite of our perception of his character. Essentially, they transformed an image of compassion into a figure of animosity who blesses specifically the brutality that he denounced in the Gospel; this transformation occurred more slowly, across decades instead of months, however it is still disconcerting through similar means, a confusing personal impact for many of us.
A Damaging Christianity Establishes Itself
Hence I shall explain the Jesus from my childhood, since in theory the Savior is the core within Christian belief, and given that the quickly increasing segment of Americans may possess limited understanding about him as they consider themselves skeptics or agnostics or nones. I have no problem with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; however I believe that contain precious wisdom of great price within Christian narrative.
It is unquestionably not the story of a mighty king emerging; instead, a baby is born to parents without shelter in a garage, who must quickly flee to another nation to escape secret police. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a working carpenter; his message concerns compassion for other people, particularly for the poor – not simply tender feelings, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and housing. The Savior's reaction to aggression is to turn the other cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a way to teach the assailant; his approach to wrongdoing is that if a person pilfers your outer garment you should give them your pullover as well.
The apparent and direct truth that the Savior from scripture advocates for a type of profound affection centered on the poor is what has always made Christian religion rather a provocative belief system: attractive to the populace, but because of its inherent radicalness requiring to be controlled. In the 1950s it was contained through watering down – Protestantism was so dominant that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Struggle for the Highest Within Us
So I have been inspired to observe the steadfast resistance to Trump emerge over the last twelve months. It has been significant comfort to assist in constructing the initiative that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and seems to have inspired electorate to show up in significant amounts in interim political contests. We will need to maintain it, and through comparable resolve, featuring US banners at every demonstration and calls to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you welcome them and embrace them or refuse?
The nation is most protected, essentially, by reference to the best in US heritage, just as Christianity is optimally secured through connection to what makes it special and magnificent, specifically the model of Jesus. In neither case does it mean feigning the most negative about the nation and Christian faith did not happen; it signifies both meekness and belief, a combination that serious national faithful should be comfortable with.
