Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Empathy Mining

Home
Progressive Christian
Hope is Rising in Trump’s America

Hope is Rising in Trump’s America

Last updated on: November 13, 2017 at 9:54 am by Shane Phipps

Hope is Rising in Trump’s America 2017-11-13T09:54:49-04:00 Shane Phipps

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

AB4E4973-7626-4DE8-8EEC-43D25B6CE21A

It’s been a full year now since that most unlikely of presidential elections in American history. For the majority of us, it’s been a pretty tough year. It took some time to shake off the fog of shock and disbelief that enveloped us in the wake of the electoral vote tally that ultimately put Donald Trump in office. Many of us braced ourselves for a rough ride–I’m not sure any of us were truly prepared for what an absurd and surreal ride it’s turned into. Emotions have ranged from sadness and despair to anger and rage as the POTUS has continued to lower the bar for presidential decorum. But hope is not lost.

On the contrary, hope is on the rise in United States. Donald Trump is not going to destroy America, he is steeling our resolve. The chaos left in the wake of this president’s daily activities is revealing the worst aspects of America–that’s a good thing–those things need to be brought to light so that we can no longer pretend they are dead. In addition to revealing the ugliness, the chaos of the Trump administration is creating a new generation of active citizens who are paying attention–some for the first time in a long time, some for the first time in their lives–and that’s a very good thing.

The election of Donald Trump revealed just how much of a stranglehold the far-right wing of Christianity had on the political narrative. A white-hot spotlight has been shining on that fact for over a year now. That has freed many Christians from their political shackles and provided them with an opportunity to wriggle out of the grasp of the Republican Party. New and growing communities of progressive Christians have sought each other out on social media. There are many large communities online to provide support groups for Christians who once were shamed into a sense of moral obligation to identify with right wing politics, despite the fact that words and actions of the man Christians are supposed to follow after, Christ himself, don’t seem to jive with a lot of what the Right promotes. As these communities of progressive Christians continue to find one another, grow and organize, there is hope.

Trump’s rise to the presidency has brought some of America’s dormant evil to the surface. White Nationalism was emboldened a year ago. Things that used to be only whispered in clandestine meeting halls are now shouted from street corners. The hatred that fills the air when these people stand up for evil ideology is hard to witness–it makes us want to match hatred with hatred–but if we look at it with cool heads and logical calm, we’ll see that it is a good thing that it is exposed. As the rest of the nation begins to organize against such hate, these relics of the past, temporarily energized and emboldened by a Nationalist president, have been outed. When their guy is no longer in power, they’ll be forced to slink back into the slime from whence they emerged, never to be seen again. Their moment in the sun will be short-lived and so too, we can now hope, will be their ideology.

Trump’s presidency is creating a generation of young people who are paying more attention to their nation and world than I have ever witnessed. I see it in the young teenagers I teach. I suppose the last time young people were this invested in the happenings in Washington D.C. was probably during the Nixon years. The average young person today is far more attuned to the political climate than they were a year ago. We’ve never had a leader of Trump’s ilk. Say what you will about the man, but we can all agree, he is not the sort of leader you can ignore and forget about. Kids are paying attention. They are watching. They are asking questions. They are concerned about the future of their nation. They are the future of our nation. In them lies our hope.

In my weaker moments, I’ve let Trump’s America drag me into a depressed mood. At times, I’ve allowed my hope to evaporate. But when I think deeper and look around at what is going on in the more reasonable sectors of our nation, I see hope on the rise. We are already seeing this play out in state and local election results in scenarios that could only be interpreted as push back against Trumpism. A transgender woman won a seat in the Virginia legislature. The New Jersey Republican senator who made the shameful joke that he hoped the women’s march would end in time for them to get home to cook dinner was defeated by a woman who was inspired to run against him by that very comment. These are but two examples of undeniable backlash against the Trump administration less than a year into his term. These and many other elections are the first tangible glimmers of the growing hope sprouting from the brand of fertilizer spread by Trump’s regime.

I’m vowing to try a different approach to navigate in Trump’s America. I have already allowed it too often to drag me into feelings of anguish and despair–it’s easy to go down that road, and it’s not pleasant–so I’ve decided to focus on the hope that is emerging.

It’s there if you know where to look–and it’s a lot more pleasant.

Previous Post

November 7, 2017

A Prayer of Anguish—Seeking Answers in a Sea of Questions

Next Post

November 13, 2017 When searching for God in the midst of tragedy, look to the cross

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 150 word story 2nd Amendment AARP abortion addiction aging alcoholism Anderson Wigwam Andrew Jackson Appalachia Basketball bias bigotry Black Lives Matter Christianity Christmas, Constitution, Bill of Rights Civil War Clinton cloning confirmation bias Conservation Constitution Controversial Creationism Creepy tales David Bowie depression Dogs Education Election Electoral College Empathy Environmental Evolution exvangelical faith Family Family History Fantasy Genealogy Genesis George Washington Ghetto Global Warming Gun Control health care High School Basketball Hillary History Hockey homosexuality Hoosier Hysteria Hoosiers Hunting immigration income inequality Interview ISTEP Jurassic Park Kaepernick Ken Hamm Kids say the Darndest things LGBTQ Love MAGA Manifest Destiny Merit Pay Mike Pence Muhammad Ali Multiple Perspectives Music Music Review Nashville News media NHL No Child Left Behind NRA Paradox Parenting Pence Perspective Politics POTUS Poverty Predators Race Religion religious freedom Sci Fi Science Secret of Life sexual harrassment Short Stories Slavery Small Town Indiana Smashville Social Commentary social media sports Stress technology Terrorism Thomas Jefferson Trauma Trump Turning 50 Uncategorized war Washington DC White Privilege wooly mammoths words in red Writing Writing Process Writing, Writing Process Young Earth

Select a Month June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Let not your hearts be troubled"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Paul Jesus Peter John

Support this
Column