Trumpism's most telling and defining occasions – not its most important, nor most harsh, nor most hazardous, nor most senseless, but possibly its most revealing – came earlier this autumn. Over the span of a few weeks, the nation's leader commenced revealing all observers his designs for an ornate dance hall two times larger of the White House and then began independently demolishing the East Wing to erect it.
He has performed deeds 10,000 times as bad – the existing assessment of fatalities resulting from his reductions to USAID amounts to 600,000 and increasing, and this week an analysis predicted his energy policies would kill an additional 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No previous president would have attempted – truly, no previous leader would have conceived – independently wrecking significant portions of the presidential residence to construct a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of multiple America's wealthiest, nearly all of which maintain dealings with federal agencies.
We went from 'the meek shall inherit the world' to 'the meek shall die of cholera'
As confusing as it is to witness the leader seek to颠覆 the established notion about democracy and exchange it with its polar opposite, there exists a significant segment within America who wouldn't consider it totally unfamiliar. That is those of us – in older age cohorts a near majority – who were raised as mainline Protestant Christians.
We have witnessed throughout the years as rightwing evangelical churches converted the Savior we were raised with into the complete reverse of our understanding of him. Fundamentally, they turned a figure of affection into an icon of hostility who endorses specifically the brutality that he criticized in biblical teachings; this has happened more slowly, across decades instead of months, yet it remains unsettling through similar means, a bewildering emotional blow for countless people.
A Harmful Christianity Takes Hold
So let me first describe the Christ from my upbringing, because theoretically Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and given that the fastest-growing cadre of Americans could have minimal awareness regarding him as they consider themselves skeptics or uncertain individuals or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with these different approaches, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that contain precious wisdom of substantial value within Christian narrative.
It is emphatically definitely not the story of a mighty king arising; instead, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to another nation to evade secret police. The baby grows up in modest conditions, a laboring woodworker; his teaching concerns compassion for fellow humans, particularly for the poor – and not a sentimental love, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. Christ's response to violence is to offer the additional cheek – not as a gesture of passive acceptance, but as a means to educate the aggressor; his crime policy indicates that whenever a person pilfers your jacket you should give him your sweater as well.
The obvious and direct reality that the Savior from scripture requests a type of profound affection focused on the poor is what has always made Christian religion something of a provocative belief system: appealing to the masses, but owing to its inherent radicalness requiring to be contained. In the 1950s it was controlled via weakening – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it practically blessed current circumstances.
A Battle for the Best Within Us
Therefore I have felt encouraged to observe the determined opposition to Trump arise over the last twelve months. It has served as substantial consolation to participate in developing the movement that has demonstrated publicly in rally after rally, and likely has encouraged voters to show up in numbers in the off-year elections. We must have to continue it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags throughout each rally and requests to the highest qualities within national heritage.
We shall be interrogated ... regarding how you welcomed the foreigner? Did you receive him and embrace them or reject?
The country is optimally secured, in other words, through connection to the highest in US heritage, just as Christianity is optimally secured through connection to elements that cause it to be unique and beautiful, particularly the pattern of Christ. In both situations does it mean pretending the most negative of both America and religious tradition did not happen; it represents both modesty and conviction, a combination that genuine national faithful should embrace.
