A Little Bit More on Words: “Cult” and “Christianist”
In a post a few days ago, John continued our discussion here about religious terminology. In part, John's focus, here and on his own separate blog, was on the word "cult" as applied to Mitt Romney and his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormons"). John's point (and Hugh Hewitt's) was that whatever the users of "cult" might intend in using the word to describe Mormonism, to listeners it has a deeply pejorative meaning.
Now a discussion has erupted in the blogosphere over the word "Christianist," which Andrew Sullivan apparently did not invent, but likes to use. His rationale:
[Christianist] is an attempt to reclaim Christianity from some of its most vociferous representatives in the Republican establishment. When they use the word "Christian" to describe their politics of big government intolerance, I find it distasteful and offensive to my own faith. I have every right to take back a word they have defiled and invent a new one to describe their politicization of faith. Yes, it's provocative.
If you're like me, you hear "Christianist" and think of "Islamist" as its counterpart. Sullivan seems to have latched onto a word that allows him to equate religious Christian conservatives with the likes of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. (As we have recently realized, Sullivan tends to administer low blows on those who disagree with him. After all, those people are not merely wrong, but evil, and deserve whatever he can dish out. Right?)
Professor Bainbridge has these thoughts about "Christianist:"
To be sure, Sullivan claims that "the term Christianist is in no way designed to label people on the religious right as favoring any violence at all." Fair enough. But Sullivan lost mastery of Christianist once it entered the public domain. The meaning of words is socially constructed. Words mean not just what the speaker intends . . . but also what the listeners understand them to mean. (The technical term is intersubjectivity.)
Whether Sullivan intended Christianist to evoke Islamist, with the connotation of terrorist, or not, that is how I suspect most people take it. And that's whay I suspect many people are not merely provoked, but deeply offended.
Indeed. I would say the same thing about the word "cult." Creedal Christians who don't like being called Christianists ought to think about whether they ought to call Mormonism a cult. I don't like having either word used on me.
Update: Dean Barnett has more.
Technorati Tags: Mormon, Mormonism, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Christianist, cult, Professor Bainbridge, Andrew Sullivan, Hugh Hewitt, Mitt Romney
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