Cultural Christian

A cultural Christian is a secular or irreligious individual who still significantly identifies with Christian culture. The term is used, for example, by atheist^[1] Richard Dawkins in reference to himself.^[2] Likewise, non-believing sex advice columnist Dan Savage has described himself as a "Catholic — in a cultural sense, not an eat-the-wafer, say-the-rosary, burn-down-the-women's-health-center sense."^[3] Deists of the 18th and early 19th centuries, such as Napoleon and various Founding Fathers of the United States, similarly considered themselves part of Christian culture, despite their doubts about the divinity of Jesus.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

In Evangelical Christianity

Those belonging to charismatic movements use the term to describe individuals whose spiritual understanding or practice they see as underdeveloped, superficial, or lacking obvious fervor.

The term "cultural Christian" (also "nominal Christian") is a term used in Christian fundamentalism and the Christian Charismatic Movement, for Christians who are not "born again" (i.e. who have not experienced a personal religious conversion). The term was coined in the 1970s, and popularized in the 1980s and 1990s.^[9] Contrasting terms are "biblical Christian",^[10] "committed Christian",^[11] "converted Christian" or "believing Christian".^[12]

A related concept is that of a "nominal" Christian, whom the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization defines as "a person who has not responded in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and Lord." The LCWE notes that such a one "may be a practising or non-practising church member. He may give intellectual assent to basic Christian doctrines and claim to be a Christian. He may be faithful in attending liturgical rites and worship services, and be an active member involved in church affairs."^[13] The LCWE also suggests that nominal Christianity "is to be found wherever the church is more than one generation old."^[14]

Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk suggest that "nominalism" is a major issue. They assert that "many traditionally Christian populations know nothing of a personal faith, true repentance and a trust in the finished work of Christ for their salvation," and estimate that 1.2 billion people are "nominal and non-practising 'Christians'."^[15]

American Reformed theologian Douglas Wilson disagrees with the category of "nominal Christian" and argues that all who are baptized enter into a covenant with God, and are obliged to serve him. There is, therefore, "no such thing as a merely nominal Christian any more than we can find a man who is a nominal husband."^[16] There are, however, "wicked and faithless Christians."^[17]

See also

• Apatheism
• Backslide
• Cafeteria Christianity
• Christian atheism
• Cultural Catholic
• Cultural Judaism
• Cultural Mormon
• Cultural Muslim
• Emerging church
• Lapsed Catholic
• Moralistic therapeutic deism
• Post-theism
• Postchristianity
• Postmodern Reformation
• Rice Christian
• Secular Judaism
• Secularism
• Sunday Christian
• Transtheistic
• Western culture

References

1. ^ (Audio), AU: ABC, 2010-03-03, http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2010/03/03/2835634.htm 
2. ^ "Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian", News (BBC), 10 December 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7136682.stm 
3. ^ Dan Savage (2005-04-14), "Savage Love", The Stranger (Seattle), http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=21060, retrieved 2010-04-05 
4. ^ Jayne, Allen (2000), Jefferson's Declaration of Independence: Origins, Philosophy and Theology  traces TJ's sources and emphasizes his incorporation of Deist theology into the Declaration.
5. ^ Franklin, Benjamin (1958) [1771]. Autobiography and other writings. Cambridge: Riverside. p. 52. 
6. ^ Olson, Roger (19 October 2009). The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity and Diversity. InterVarsity Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=rGMKbaNIjIoC&pg=PA61&dq=benjamin+franklin+christian+or+deist#v=onepage&q&f=false. "Other Deists and natural religionists who considered themselves Christians in some sense of the word included Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin." 
7. ^ Boller, Paul F (1996), Not so!: popular myths about America from Columbus to Clinton, p. 31 
8. ^ Boller, Paul F (1963), George Washington & religion, p. 16, http://books.google.com/books?ct=result&id=C_d2AAAAMAAJ&dq=george+washington+deist+%22paul+f.+boller%22&q=deist#search_anchor, retrieved March 5, 2011, "...the father of his country... died as he had lived, in dignity and peace; but he left behind him not one word to warrant the belief that he was other than a sincere deist" 
9. ^ James D. Mallory, Stanley C. Baldwin, The kink and I: a psychiatrist's guide to untwisted living, 1973, p. 64
10. ^ Patrick Morley, The Man in the Mirror: Solving the 24 Problems Men Face (1997), Biblical Christian or Cultural Christian?
11. ^ Richard W. Rousseau, Christianity and Judaism: the deepening dialogue (1983), p. 112
12. ^ Postmodern theology: Christian faith in a pluralist world, Harper & Row, 1989 [1]. Joseph C. Aldrich, Life-style evangelism: crossing traditional boundaries to reach the unbelieving world , 1983 [2]
13. ^ Christian Witness to Nominal Christians Among Roman Catholics, Lausanne Occasional Paper 10.
14. ^ Witness to Nominal Christians Among Protestants, Lausanne Occasional Paper 23.
15. ^ Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, Operation World: 21st Century Edition (Paternoster, 2001), 13-14.
16. ^ Douglas Wilson, Reformed is Not Enough: Recovering the Objectivity of the Covenant (Moscow, Idaho: Canon Press, 2000), 96.
17. ^ Douglas Wilson, Reformed is Not Enough, 97.