Comments on: What “Christian” means to the Christianists

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 16:52:02 +0000

September 1 seems to be taking over your comments section. I have found that most born again Christians become born again so that they can go out and sin all they want and then be forgiven by God. Then, they start over again sinning and then being forgiven. It must be nice.

By: SteveAudio

SteveAudio — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:49:32 +0000

Mark,
Having spent much time in Xtian recording studios, I can only agree with both your theses. The music is so watered down as to not freak out the 70 somethings raised on Pat Boone, but has just enough drumbeat to appeal to the “kids”.
On a related note, the sort-of metal band “King’s X”, who had written some vaguely spiritual sound lyrics starting in the early ’90s, was embraced by the Xtian kids, and their CDs sold in many Xtian bookstores. That is, until the lead singer came out of the closet, and said they had never intended to be considered Xtian.
Boy, did their CDs disappear quickly.

By: ferd

ferd — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 02:20:28 +0000

The authoritarians, secular or otherwise, aren’t good at music, or art, or comedy. Except for the iron fist, there’s no there there.

By: robertl

robertl — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:05:03 +0000

The Christian vs. Catholic argument always brings to mind some dialogue from one of James Ellroy’s novels. It goes something like this:
Dudley Smith to subordinate: “So lad, are you Roman Catholic?”
Subordinate: “No sir, I’m Lutheran.”
Smith: “Ah, God’s second team.”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 21:31:46 +0000

…excellent suggestion, CJ. Longer version of the same good idea: “If you can’t tell from my behavior, it must be because we don’t interact very much, so it obviously doesn’t matter to you. If you can, why would it matter what I say?”

By: CJColucci

CJColucci — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 17:39:14 +0000

Ted:
You might want to try: “That’s not for me to say.” Should get an interesting response.

By: Tom Hilton

Tom Hilton — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 17:28:51 +0000

This has been going on for years. Whenever I see someone using ‘Christian’ this way, I correct them…and they always get huffy about it.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:56:10 +0000

And where does that leave us Unitarians? Probably out in “left” field somewhere….

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:50:18 +0000

Appropos of Hildegard, I spent one summer of my youth tramping around Europe with Andrea von Ramm. HvB incarnate.

By: Ted

Ted — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:48:12 +0000

It’s actually a tricky situation for me as an Episcopalian in the south:
What’s the answer to the question “Are you Christian?”

By: Bargain Countertenor

Bargain Countertenor — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:29:00 +0000

Well, Hildegard, Johann Sebastian and the Gregorians already classify in the so-called “classical” section of Borders.
The Christofascists are welcome to keep their over-produced dreck elsewhere. Contemporary ‘Christian’ music sucks because it is over-produced and market-driven. Mark’s characterization as country-pop sweetened with saccharine is right on the target.
BTW, if you like Hildegard you might want to give Arvo Part a try.
BC

By: robert the Red

robert the Red — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 19:27:06 +0000

If the President can refer to Islamofascists, then can other people use the term Christofascists? There is certainly more background for the latter term (viz., Franco, Mussolini).

By: RickG

RickG — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 18:46:40 +0000

Having lived near ground zero of the religious right for over a decade, I’ve become quite attuned to the use of Christian as a code word for fundamentalists. It is not an inclusive reference to a big tent of JC based religions, but rather an indentifier of association with an evangelical or fundamentalist group.
There is no ambiguity whatever in what KH said. She was talking to the “base”.

By: James Wimberley

James Wimberley — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 18:14:48 +0000

Poor Katherine Harris. Electing Jews, Episcopalians, Methodists, atheists, Muslims, Parsees, etc, is going to lead Western civilisation astray "because people look to our country as one nation under God". But look who's sold the pass already: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/current/darwin.htm

By: Grumpy

Grumpy — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 17:30:30 +0000

Relevant to this post was Harris’ reference to “average citizens who are not Christians”. Since the average American is some type of Protestant, statistically speaking, she’s obviously using the new definition of the term “Christian.”