Dark Christianity
dark_christian
.::: .::..:.::.:.

May 2008
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dogemperor [userpic]
"Christianist" versus Christian

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY [info]sunfell)

This entry in "Orcinus" talks about the neologism "Christianist" and how it should be applied to todays 'talibangelicals':

In an analogy to Islamism, I would propose the term "Christianism" to describe a political ideology inspired by Christianity that advocates the replacement of a secular government with one that is profoundly informed by a self-styled "literal" interpretation of the Bible. By this definition, Rudolph is perhaps best described as a radical "Christianist," a man inspired by Christianity to effect social change through violence.

"Christianism" is without a doubt an ugly neologism. However, it is a mistake to describe as "Christian" people and groups like Robertson, Falwell, Christian Identity, and those who are even more radical in their mission to transform the US into an explicitly fundamentalist "christian" state. This confuses Christianity, a religious belief, with a purely secular agenda. Furtheremore, it is highly misleading to ignore the hijacking of Christianity and its symbols by the Rudolphs of the world simply by repressing any reference to their Christian inspirations and calling them "anti-abortion terrorists" or some similar name.


I thought about this while driving home and listening to a report about an Islamist gunman who barged into a Turkish court and shot the judges residing there- killing one. His motives were nearly identical to those of Christianists in this country who rail against 'activist' or 'secular' judges.

And that made me think- Christianists are creeping closer and closer to total identity and motivation with their Islamist kindred- not yet into suicide bombing, but working on destablizing governments, terrorising and murdering people that they do not agree with- like abortion care providers and gay people, and brainwashing young people into being some kind of 'martyrs' for Jesus.

"Christianist" indeed. Theirs is a legacy of hatred and fear, not love and compassion.