As a Christian I get annoyed when I hear my fellow Xtians complaining about the “War on Christmas” or decrying the lack of respect forIntelligent Design/Creation…yadda yadda ad nauseum.
My mother’s church had a letter writint campaign to NBC (or whoever) over that show last year where Jesus had actual conversations with a priest…Book of Daniel or something…yet her church has no outreach or missions efforts.
I postulate that most American Christians today feel like they are supposed to identify as Christians, but find Jesus’ teachings too oppressive to their affluent lifestyles. So they pay lip service by waging these campaigns that look like they are advancing the “Kingdom”, but are really fluff that does not impact the world in any way Jesus would approve of.
Can anyone help me with a name for this phenomenon? (besides “Church”)
In my opinion, the phrase “attack on Christianity” is comparable to the phrase “Why do you hate America” in that it is a case of putting the person to whom it is spoken on the defensive with a false premise…sort of a straw man in effect…rather than speaking directly to the issues.
I don’t think there is really an attack on Christianity in the US; there certainly is a reluctance to adopt all of the beliefs into our society…examples of things like opposition to abortion, opposition to teaching special creation or intelligent design, or belief that our foreign policy should be based on some ideas about Armageddon.
Uhhhhh, as a bit of a nitpick…don’t see this as an attack on Xianity, but Daniel is a Book of the Old Testament…written before Jesus was talking to any priests.
Andrew Sullivan has been referring to it as Christianism, and the phrase has picked up some momentum in the blogosphere. As Sullivan uses it, Christianism is appropriating the trappings of Christianity for political or ideological purposes while downplaying the actual teachings of Christ. It’s intentionally intended to parallel the more widely used term Islamism.
I have no good name for the phenomena you describe, but “Christianism” (see previous posts) does sum it up nicely.
People who argue for “prayer in schools” would probabaly picket those schools if they offered Sufi dancing or Buddist Meditation…
People argue for “equal time for creationism” would do the same if the schools started offering ALL the creations stories/myths as “Fact”
People who want to limit other’s rights to abortion, freedom of gender choice, or a number of other issues shrink in horror at secularism.
What it boils down to is that many people wish to shape society (by force of law, or by simple force) to match with the faith centric belief system they subscribe to.
While not exactly on point, this reminds me somewhat of “slacktivism,” a term I’ve seen popularized on snopes.com. It consists of promoting your goals and beliefs in painless and effortless ways–email petitions, boycotting products you don’t buy any way, perhaps some letter writing and protesting is the most of it. You get to feel like you’re being a good Christian without having to put out real work like working at the homeless shelter, doing a mission to Africa, giving thousands to charity, etc.
On reading the article, I think it Christianist may be only half of what I am looking for. It speaks more to people using Xtianity as a political tool, which is part of my issue.
I need a term for my churches like mom’s church. You know, protesting a TV show but not feeding, clothing, visiting the poor sick and homeless as Jesus said. Taking on the comfortable trappings of being a “saved” Christian, but not actually living the calll laid out by Jesus.
I think you are on the right track. However there are Christians who are very actively trying to live Jesus’ message via "“Social Justice” and the terms may be to close.
