You Say You're A What?

I’ve had it with extremists who find nothing wrong with coopting whatever they want in order to further their cause. My grandfather and uncle were strong Republicans, but they would not recognize what has become of their party today. Nor would they recognize what has become of their Christian faith as expressed by the Church. That is because Christianity hijacked has become Christianism, and adherents of the extreme ideology are not truly Christians but Christianists. In this context, Mohandas Gandhi’s statement, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ;” becomes more understandable. A Christian is a person who attempts to become Christ-like, literally a “little Christ.” But a christianist blindly believes in a kind of dogmatic ideology that is truly antithetical to the way of Christ. A Christian could never condone the murder of anyone. Christianists justify the murder of anyone and everyone who does not agree with them. A Christian could never use the teachings of Christ to justify war, but christianists have been doing so from the beginning. Had Jesus not been crucified, I truly believe that there may not have been any such thing as Christianity and its Church. It is plausible that there might have been a powerfully reformed Judaism that would have never generated the Abrahamic offshoots that later emerged. I’m still not going to feel comfortable labeling myself a Christian, but I can now begin to reclaim my authentic faith tradition as I grow in my understanding that christianists proclaim christianism that has little, if anything, to do with the Christ.