They're Repeating in America What They Performed within Christianity

The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and distinctive instances – not its most crucial, nor most brutal, nor most dangerous, nor most foolish, but potentially its most enlightening – occurred earlier this fall. Over the span of several weeks, the US president commenced revealing all observers his intentions for a lavish reception room twice the size of the White House and subsequently started solo dismantling the East Wing to construct it.

He has committed acts countless times more severe – the current estimate of casualties resulting from his reductions to international aid stands at 600,000 and growing, and this week research predicted his fossil fuel policies would result in fatalities another 1.3 million. However nothing as distinctive. No other president would have attempted – really, no previous leader would have imagined – unilaterally destroying large sections of the executive mansion in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the active collaboration of multiple America's wealthiest, almost all of whom maintain dealings with public institutions.

We transitioned from 'the meek shall inherit the world' to 'the meek shall die of cholera'

As bewildering as it is to observe the chief executive try to upend the established notion regarding democracy and substitute it with its complete opposite, there is one large group within America who should not find it entirely new. This includes individuals like us – among senior generations a near majority – who were raised within mainstream Protestant traditions.

We have observed over the years as politically conservative religious groups converted the Savior we learned about into the complete reverse of our perception of his character. Fundamentally, they transformed an image of affection into a symbol of animosity who endorses precisely the cruelties that he condemned in scripture; this has happened at a slower pace, through multiple decades instead of months, but it is nonetheless disturbing in the same ways, a disorienting gut punch for many of us.

A Toxic Christianity Takes Hold

So let me first describe the Jesus from my childhood, since in theory Christ is the focus of any Christian faith, and given that the quickly increasing segment among Americans might have little sense about him because they identify as skeptics or agnostics or spiritual independents. I raise no objection with these various perspectives, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that there are pearls of significant worth in biblical accounts.

It is decidedly definitely not the account of an authoritative monarch emerging; conversely, a child comes into the world to homeless parents in a garage, who must quickly flee to a different country to avoid secret police. The infant develops in simple surroundings, a working carpenter; his doctrine concerns compassion for other people, particularly for the disadvantaged – not simply tender feelings, but a concrete one, demonstrated through nourishing and protecting. The Savior's reaction to hostility is to offer the additional cheek – not as a demonstration of passive acceptance, but as a means to teach the aggressor; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever an individual takes your outer garment you must offer them your pullover also.

The obvious and clear truth that Christ of the gospels calls for a form of profound affection concentrated on the needy has perpetually caused the Christian faith rather a controversial faith: engaging for the populace, but due to its intrinsic extremism needing to be restrained. In the 1950s it was contained through watering down – Protestant Christianity was so dominant that it practically baptized the status quo.

A Conflict for the Highest of Us

So I have been encouraged to observe the persistent defiance regarding Trump develop over the last twelve months. It has provided great solace to help build the movement that has protested openly through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged citizens to participate in significant amounts in interim political contests. We shall require to continue it, and through comparable resolve, displaying national flags throughout each rally and requests to the finest aspects of American history.

We will be questioned ... how did you receive the foreigner? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or not?

The nation is most protected, in other words, through connection to the highest within national tradition, just as Christianity is optimally secured through connection to that which renders it special and wonderful, specifically the model of the Savior. In both situations does it suggest acting as if the worst about the nation and Christian faith did not happen; it represents both humility and faith, a mixture that serious American Christians should be comfortable with.