They're Doing to America What They Did to Christianity

The Trump phenomenon's most illuminating and defining moments – not its most crucial, nor most brutal, nor most hazardous, nor stupidest, but possibly its most revealing – emerged earlier this harvest season. During the period of a few weeks, the US president commenced revealing the public his intentions for an ornate dance hall two times larger than the White House and then commenced unilaterally ripping down the East Wing portion to construct it.

He has committed acts ten thousand times worse – the present calculation of fatalities resulting from his reductions to foreign assistance is 600,000 and increasing, and this week research projected his energy policies would cause deaths another 1.3 million. But nothing as definitional. No other president would have attempted – truly, no former commander would have contemplated – independently wrecking significant portions of the presidential residence in order to erect a palace-inspired entertainment space, with the direct cooperation of multiple America's wealthiest, nearly all of which conduct transactions with federal agencies.

We went from 'the humble will receive the Earth' to 'the meek shall die to cholera'

As confusing as it is to observe the chief executive attempt to overturn the old idea about democracy and replace it with its direct contrary, there exists a significant segment among Americans who wouldn't consider it totally unfamiliar. This includes individuals like us – in older age cohorts close to half – who were educated as mainline Protestant Christians.

We have observed throughout the years as politically conservative religious groups transformed the Christ we grew up with into the total contrary of our understanding of him. At its most basic, they converted a persona of compassion into an icon of hate who blesses precisely the cruelties that he denounced in scripture; this change developed more slowly, over decades as opposed to months, however it is still disconcerting in the same ways, a bewildering emotional blow for many of us.

A Damaging Christianity Takes Hold

Hence I shall explain the Christ that I grew up with, since in theory Jesus is the center within Christian belief, and since the rapidly expanding group among Americans could have minimal awareness of him as they consider themselves skeptics or agnostics or religiously unaffiliated. I raise no objection with any of these traditions, nor with alternative spiritual paths; but I do think that exist valuable insights of great price in the Christian story.

It is unquestionably not the story of an authoritative monarch emerging; instead, an infant arrives to displaced parents in an automotive shelter, who must quickly flee to a foreign land to avoid covert authorities. The child matures in humble circumstances, a working carpenter; his teaching is about love for fellow humans, especially for the disadvantaged – not merely emotional affection, but practical compassion, demonstrated through nourishing and sheltering. Christ's response to violence is to offer the additional cheek – not as an act of submissive tolerance, but as a way to teach the aggressor; his method regarding offenses indicates that whenever a person pilfers your coat you must offer him your sweater also.

The obvious and clear reality that the Savior in biblical accounts calls for a kind of extreme compassion centered on the poor has perpetually caused Christian religion something of a scandalous religion: appealing to the masses, but owing to its intrinsic extremism needing to be contained. In the fifties it was restrained by dilution – Protestant Christianity was so widespread that it essentially sanctified existing conditions.

A Struggle for the Best Within Us

So I have been heartened to witness the persistent defiance to Trump develop in this past year. It has served as significant comfort to assist in constructing the initiative that has demonstrated publicly through repeated demonstrations, and likely has encouraged citizens to show up in numbers during minor elections. We will need to continue it, and in the same spirit, displaying national flags during all protests and calls to the best parts within national heritage.

We will be questioned ... regarding how you welcomed the stranger? Did you accept these individuals and embrace them or not?

America is best defended, in other words, by reference to the finest about American history, similar to Christianity is best defended through connection to elements that cause it to be distinctive and wonderful, specifically the model of Jesus. In neither case does it suggest pretending the most damaging about the nation and Christianity did not happen; it signifies both meekness and conviction, a blend that committed American Christians should embrace.