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

[Wilson Gray]

For those who may be wondering, the original name of Biola University
was "Baptist Institute of Los Angeles."

-Wilson Gray

On 10/16/05, Geoff Nathan <geoffnathan at wayne.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Geoff Nathan <geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: For some, "Christian" (adj.) no longer includes Lutherans
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Today's issue of the Detroit News had an article about Christian
> bloggers.  The headline referred to 'God Bloggers'.  The article was an
> AP feed, datelined La Mirada, CA.
> It is clear from the multiple uses of the word 'Christian' that the word
> means 'evangelical Christian'.  For example, the article talked about
>
>     'Christian bloggers, who have worked behind the scenes for years to
>     spread the Gospel and infuse politics with religion.  Topics
>     included God bloggers' relationship with the traditional church...'
>
>
> Further along a Biola University professor gave instructions on
>
>     'writing about faith without alienating nonbelievers' [at a workshop
>     with the title "When Non-Christians read your blog"]  He stressed
>     that blogging 'done wrong [..] can reinforce stereotypes of
>     evangelical Christians as angry and close-minded... As Christians
>     today we are embroiled in the argument culture.'
>
> Reference is Detroit News, Sunday, October 16, 2005.  Page 10A.  Note
> that Detroit is not southern, nor rural, and neither is California.  The
> article is clearly just assuming that the word 'Christian', without
> further context, means Evangelical Christian.
>
> --
> Geoffrey S. Nathan
> Department of English/Computing and Information Technology
> Wayne State University
> Detroit, MI, 48202
> <geoffnathan at wayne.edu>
> Phones:  C&IT (313) 577-1259/English (313) 577-8621
>
>


--
-Wilson Gray