Christian

[Michael Newman]

When I was teaching 9th grade in NY, I found that kids generally
assumed that Christian=Evangelical. One girl, who was Catholic,
claimed that "Catholics are not Christians, but they come from the
same origins as Christians." I think she got mixed up with what she
learned about Christians and Jews.

If I was uncharitable (or Orwellian), I'd say that evangelical
protestants have essentially hijacked the term because it of the
implication that they are the true Christians. A similar phenomenon
can be found among Orthodox Jews, who refer to themselves as
"religious," again with the implication, deliberate or not, that the
other branches are not. However, when I said to a couple of modern
orthodox students that I didn't use that term to describe them, but
used "orthodox," they were perfectly happy with that.
--
Michael Newman
Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics
Dept. of Linguistics and Communication Disorders
Queens College/CUNY
Flushing, NY 11367