Christianism

Not to be confused with Christianity.

Christianism had various definitions over the years. It was originally defined as "the Christian religion" or "the Christian world".^[1] In recent years, Christianism (or Christianist') has also been used as a descriptive term of Christian fundamentalists, mostly in the United States, for the ideology of the Christian right, meant as a counterpoint to "Islamism".^[2][3] Writing in 2005, the New York Times language columnist William Safire attributed the term (in its modern usage) to conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan, 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."^[2]

The liberal bloggers Tristero and David Neiwert used the term shortly after.^[4][5] Sullivan later expanded on his usage of the term in a Time magazine column.^[6] Uses of the term can be found dating back to the seventeenth century, but these are unrelated to its modern meaning.^[2]

See also

• Dominionism
• Islamism
• Taliban
• Theoconservatism

Notes

1. ^ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Christianism
2. ^ ^{a b c} Safire, William (May 15, 2005). "Isms and Phobias". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/magazine/15ONLANGUAGE.html. Retrieved January 29, 2010. 
3. ^ Walker, Ruth (May 20, 2005). "Onward, Christianist soldiers?". Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts: The Christian Science Monitor). http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0520/p18s04-hfes.html. Retrieved January 31, 2010. 
4. ^ When Semantic Differences Are Not: Part Two Tristero, June 2, 2003, accessed January 31, 2010.
5. ^ How about Christianism? David Neiwert, June 8, 2003, accessed January 31, 2010.
6. ^ Sullivan, Andrew (May 7, 2006)."My Problem with Christianism" Time.com, accessed January 31, 2010.