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

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Thu, Oct 13, 2005 at 06:04:17PM -0400, Joanne M. Despres wrote:
> But as long as the shift in meaning has only occurred "for some,"  I
> don't think we have to worry much that mainstream dictionaries
> would change their definitions of "Christian" or, for that matter, that
> non-fundamentalist Christians would stop using using the term of
> themselves just because somebody else is trying to appropriate it.

I _have_ heard of non-fundamentalist Christians deliberately avoiding
the term because they didn't want to be associated with the fringe.
I don't have any cites, of course.

_Copy Editor_ had an article about this shift in _Christian_ a few
years back--I don't know if it addressed this particular issue (sc.
avoidance by mainstream Christians), though. My stash isn't handy
at the moment.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED