Christianism

Christianism is a term describing how some adherents of Christianity, particularly those on the American Christian right, turn Christianity into a political dogma and use it for the pursuit of political power. It is intended to distinguish "Christians"—believers in the religion Christianity—from "Christianists"—those who use Christianity, and particularly Christian fundamentalism, as a guide to politics and a means to political power.[1][2] The term is analogous with Islamism, in that both terms describe forms of social and political activism advocating that public and political life should be guided by religion (Islam in the case of Islamism and Christianity in the case of Christianism).

Not to be confused with Christianity.
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The term is often used pejoratively to describe the Christian right in the United States.[1][3]

History

Writing in 2005, William Safire, language columnist for The New York Times, attributed the term (in this novel usage) to blogger Andrew Sullivan,[1] who wrote on June 1, 2003, "I have a new term for those on the fringes of the religious right who have used the Gospels to perpetuate their own aspirations for power, control and oppression: Christianists. They are as anathema to true Christians as the Islamists are to true Islam."[4] Sullivan later expanded on his usage of the term in a Time magazine column.[5] The bloggers Tristero and David Neiwert used the term shortly after.[6][7] Sullivan revived the term in December 2020, arguing that evangelical Christians have deepened their fusion between church and state with their staunch support of US President Donald Trump, saying that "Christianists now believe that Trump has been selected by God to save them from persecution and the republic from collapse...This belief is now held with the same, unwavering fundamentalist certainty as a Biblical text."[8]

Uses of the term can be found dating back to the seventeenth century, but these are unrelated to the meaning in its modern usage.[1]

See also

Notes
  1. Safire, William (May 15, 2005). "Isms and Phobias". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2010.
  2. "Christianist | Definition of Christianist by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Christianist". Lexico Dictionaries | English.
  3. Walker, Ruth (May 20, 2005). "Onward, Christianist soldiers?". The Christian Science Monitor. Boston, Massachusetts. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
  4. Sullivan, Andrew (1 June 2003). "RELIGION AND TERROR". The Dish. Archived from the original on 27 November 2015.
  5. Sullivan, Andrew (May 7, 2006)."My Problem with Christianism", Time, accessed January 31, 2010.
  6. When Semantic Differences Are Not: Part Two Tristero, June 2, 2003, accessed January 31, 2010.
  7. Neiwert, David (June 8, 2003). "How about Christianism?". Orcinus.
  8. Sullivan, Andrew (11 December 2020). "Christianism And Our Democracy". The Weekly Dish. Substack.


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