Terry Mattingly opines here about the Mainstream Media saying that "Catholic Santorum has enjoyed a surge among Christian voters..." Errr. I thought Catholics were not only Christian, but the first Christians. Nevermind. It reminds me of a fundamentalist gal I once knew who said, "I really would like to be a nun. If only nuns were Christian."
Anyway, I think--starting next week Todd Unctuous will have to start covering the Presidential campaign...
I'm blaming Catholics for this one. I was raised Protestant, and it was only when I became Catholic and started going to Mass that I began to hear "Christian" used to mean Protestants only. And it was Catholics who used the word that way! I think it needs to stop. Catholics do it, I guess, because they feel that saying "Protestant" sounds controversial and introduces old arguments. But saying "Christian" in a way that excludes Catholics is just incorrect and leads to some seriously erroneous thinking.
ReplyDeleteI think it goes both ways. The first time I heard someone make the distinction was when a Protestant asked a Catholic, "But are you Christian?"
ReplyDeleteRachel, the reason Catholics stopped calling themselves Christian is because many first century heretics called themselves Christian. Catholics weren't merely Christian since you have to swallow Catholicism whole. There is no such thing as a Cafeteria Catholic.
ReplyDeleteI think a good comparison is the distinction of man and animal. Yes men are animals, but if you ask a man "Are you an animal?" most would deny it on impulse since men are more than just animals.
I guess you're both right.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd like to see is Catholics using "Christian" to mean Catholic. When I read talks by the Pope, that's how he uses the word. I can't think of a good example, but he simply says "Christian", meaning us, the quintessential Christians with the fullness of the faith, and also inviting all Protestants to identify themselves with whatever he's saying.
There probably is blame on both sides. But about 20 years ago, I was talking with a co-worker who was a PK. When I made a joke about Catholics not having "preacher's kids" (hey, I didn't know we had married priests until just a few years ago!), the young man responded, with no animosity, "Oh, you're not a Christian, then?" That was my closest approach to workplace violence.
ReplyDeleteI find that many Protestant friends I know tend to use the word Christian to mean - "I don't have to belong to any particular Church or creed; I can jump from one to the other as I like, because I am a Christian."
ReplyDeleteIn fact a cousin of my wife's attended a particular Pentecostal type church, ended up disagreeing with something they said or did, and is now preparing to set up his own church. And no doubt he would justify this by saying, no matter what church he was in, he was always a Christian.
Trouble is, that's exactly how every single one of the numerous heresies, that have attacked the Church throughout its 2000 years' history, has begun.
Hmm, interesting comments;I have to admit that in england we have lost the battle so now I concede that protestant christians (with fish symbols on their cars are a different breed - namely 'sola scriptura' christians. I am a Catholic follower of Christ not to be confused with the 'new christians' who have unfortunately hijacked the term.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Veritas. My childhood was full of Protestants who self-identified as Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran. It was understood that they were Christian. To my memory the recent use of the term "Christian," dates from the rise of the non-denoms, and may also be influnced by the declining number of self-identifying Christians in the US. Explicit Christianity is simply less the norm now, and is thus more distinctive.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is irritating. I recall a conversation with an Evangelical friend who, finally, agreed that some *individual* Catholics were almost certainly Christian. I thought that was awfully big of him, though, I believe he still insisted that Catholic converts to his church still needed to be baptised.
ReplyDeleteUgh.
Anyhow, I speculate that this is one reason why some Catholics find the Evangelical question over whether Mormons count as Christians to be absurd. It's like one group of fan fiction readers arguing over the canonical legitimacy of another fan fiction group.