For some, "Christian" (adj.) no longer includes Lutherans

[David Bowie]

From:    Paul Johnson <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>
> Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>> Tracy Lindsey Melchior, soap actress and author, has just told
>> Larry King on CNN that she was "baptized Lutheran" but is now
>> "Christian."

>> Though Larry was nonplussed ( "But Lutheran is Christian...?"),
>> Tracy wasn't. "The church I attend now is just Christian. It's
>> evangelical. It's more of a 'seeking' church."

>> (The above dialogue is partly reconstructed.)

>> I'm used to the contentious superstition that Catholics are
>> non-Christians, but Protestant Lutherans ?  Will Presbyterians and
>> Methodists be next ?

> Here in North Central Arkansas, Christian is code for, born again,
> evangel. bible inerrency,   But not nessasarily republican.

As an adherent of a fringe-Christian faith (Mormonism), i've been
watching the recent drift of "Christian". It seems to me that what Paul
Johnson attributes to North Central Arkansas is much more widespread in
(at least) the United States than that, where a lot of people are
starting to use "Christian" to mean specifically what used to be called
"nondenominational Christian", especially the evangelical and socially
conservative sort.

--
David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.