Christianism

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Christianism is a term describing how some adherents of Christianity, particularly those on the American Christian right, turn Christianity into a political idea. 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).

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) 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

* Christofascism
* Dominion theology
* Ku Klux Klan
* Theoconservatism
* Two kingdoms doctrine (in opposition)
* Islamism

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Safire, William (May 15, 2005). "Isms and Phobias". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/magazine/15ONLANGUAGE.html.
2. ↑ "Christianist | Definition of Christianist by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Christianist". https://www.lexico.com/definition/christianist.
3. ↑ Walker, Ruth (May 20, 2005). "Onward, Christianist soldiers?". The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts). http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0520/p18s04-hfes.html. Retrieved January 31, 2010.
4. ↑ Sullivan, Andrew (1 June 2003). "RELIGION AND TERROR". http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2003/06/01/religion-and-terror/.
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?". http://dneiwert.blogspot.ca/2003/06/how-about-christianism.html.
8. ↑ Sullivan, Andrew (11 December 2020). "Christianism And Our Democracy". Substack. https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/christianism-and-our-democracy.

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