The Trump phenomenon's most revealing and defining instances – not its most crucial, nor cruelest, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – came earlier this autumn. In the course of several weeks, the US president began displaying everyone his intentions for a lavish reception room double the dimensions of the White House and then began independently demolishing the eastern section to build it.
He has performed deeds ten thousand times worse – the current estimate of deaths due to his slashing to USAID is 600,000 and growing, and recently research projected his fossil fuel policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. Yet nothing as characteristic. No other president would have attempted – genuinely, no former commander would have imagined – independently wrecking major areas of the White House to construct a Versailles-style party room, with the enthusiastic participation of multiple America's wealthiest, the majority of whom have business with federal agencies.
We transitioned from 'the gentle will obtain the world' into 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As disorienting as it is to witness the president try to upend the old idea regarding democracy and replace it with its complete opposite, there exists a significant segment of Americans who should not find it completely novel. That encompasses people such as ourselves – in older age cohorts a near majority – who were educated as conventional Protestant believers.
We have watched across decades as rightwing evangelical churches turned the Jesus we were raised with into the total contrary of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they converted a persona of affection into a figure of hostility who blesses exactly the harshness that he denounced in biblical teachings; this transformation occurred more slowly, through multiple decades as opposed to months, however it is still disturbing via comparable methods, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Toxic Christianity Establishes Itself
So let me first describe the Jesus that I grew up with, since in theory Jesus is the center of any Christian faith, and given that the quickly increasing segment among Americans might have little sense about him since they are skeptics or doubters or spiritual independents. I take no issue with these different approaches, nor with any other faith; but I do think that there are pearls of great price in biblical accounts.
It is unquestionably absolutely not the story of an authoritative monarch appearing; conversely, a baby is born to displaced parents in a garage, who are forced to hastily depart to a foreign land to evade undercover officers. The child matures in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his teaching is about love for fellow humans, especially for the poor – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, expressed by feeding and housing. Christ's response to aggression is to present the opposite cheek – not as a gesture of submissive tolerance, but as a method to teach the attacker; his crime policy is that if an individual takes your coat you ought to provide them your pullover as well.
The apparent and straightforward reality that Christ in biblical accounts requests a kind of extreme compassion centered on the impoverished is what has always made Christian religion rather a scandalous religion: appealing to the masses, but because of its inherent radicalness demanding to be contained. During the 1950s it was controlled via weakening – Protestantism was so dominant that it practically sanctified existing conditions.
A Battle for the Finest of Us
So I have been heartened to witness the persistent defiance against Trump emerge in this past year. It has provided significant comfort to help build the initiative that has taken to the streets in rally after rally, and likely has encouraged electorate to participate in significant amounts during minor elections. We shall require to continue it, and in the same spirit, featuring US banners at every demonstration and appeals to the finest aspects in US history.
We will be questioned ... about how you treated the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and receive them or not?
The nation is most protected, in other words, by reference to the finest within national tradition, exactly as the Christian faith is best defended through connection to that which renders it distinctive and beautiful, specifically the model of Jesus. In neither case does it mean feigning the worst regarding America and Christianity did not happen; it means both modesty and conviction, a combination that genuine American Christians should be comfortable with.
