Have fundamentalist Christians appropriated the meaning of the word "Christian" for themselves?
137793
I have seen the phenomenon you're describing, but I don't think it's using the term "Christian" in a different way so much as having an incorrect notion of who is and is not a Christian.\n\nIn any religion you are going to find a small subset of people who believe they and they alone possess the truth and anyone slightly outside their group is completely wrong.  Some fundamentalist Christians fall into this trap and believe that anyone disagreeing with any part of their beliefs is not a Christian.\n\nI consider myself a fundamentalist Christian.  When I was young I believed silly things like Catholics weren't real Christians.  As I grew in my relationship with God I realized that was dead wrong.
940503
Exactly!  They claim the U.S. is a *Christian* nation, yet anything ever done in any *Christian* nation was not done by a *real* Christian.  Those of us who live in a *Christian* nation are products of that culture.  The Nazis were products of a Christian culture.  Slavery was a product of Christian culture.  The Inquisition was a product of Christian culture.  They weren't *real* Christians -- only the products created by them!\n.
444992
Fundamentalism to me is Gods way of showing that he has a sense of humor. To many people propose that they know what God wants us to live like. They have gone out of their way to make religion complicated. The only thing that Jesus taught is to be charitable, be hospitable, to love one another, and to trust in him. People need to find their own walk with God. Don't just take what a preacher says from the pulpit as Gospel.  The philosopher Plato said" The unquestioned life is a wasted life." It is the same with religion.
1144565
Sure...but it is only a name.  What is important is to live it.  People call themselves Christians and their actions reveal that they are the opposite of what Christianity is all about, but they can justify their actions because they are "Christians".\n\nI leave you with a question:\n\nWhat is more important...To behave as a christian and not be called one, or to be a Christian and not act like one?
1015790
I was once a fundamentalist christian, and my guess is that they usually say that when they find out that you're not just like them. It's the fundy equivalent of saying 'fuck you', and it is said with  just as much love as their very loving god has for us all. But come on now? Don't you want the love of ANY fictitious character? How about Superman or the Easter Bunny?
792043
Once again Christians display a woeful ignorance of the history of their own faith.\n\n"X" has been an acceptable and legitimate abbreviation for "Christ" for as long as Christianity has existed.  It is the Greek symbol for the first letter of Christ's name.  Yes SOME people use it as a sign of disrespect, but most use it as short hand, and there is nothing insulting, disrepectful, or impious about doing so.\n\nAs far as G-d, there are those who believe it is sacriligeous to write God's name, and that is their solution.\n\nIt's not too "hard" to write God or Christ, but it is some people's CHOICE to, and they are entitled to that choice without being constantly criticized and slandered by people too ignorant to understand why.
359784
Countires cannot be Christian, individual poeple are Christians.
981171
No. Just because someone was raised with the moral teachings of Christianity doesn't mean they are Christian. Being a Christian means being born again, a choice one has to make to be.
329972
fundamentally- no pun intended- "fundamentalist" mentality gives the excuse to ignore the actual tenets of a religion, and do what ever "God" "calls" you to do- no matter how morally and religiously wrong it is.
525882
Generally not...There are religions which would preclude the use of the bible some of which are christian. "Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no for anything beyond this is from the wicked one". Don't remember the exact location but it's from one of Paul's letters. Not all courtrooms are as enlightened though.....
526604
Cause everyone has the right to believe whatever they want to believe and call themselves whatever they want to call themselves.\n\nBesides, Christians, that is just a name given to those who believe Jesus is the Christ, and follow his teaching.  I don't think anyone could actually call themselves a Christian seriously if they do not believe, they are just kidding themselves.
1054677
Christian fundamentalism. Americans are a lot more uptight about such things than most of the rest of the world. Our (American's) adherance to religious doctrine served us well through the developmental stages of our country, but I feel that we're getting to the time where we should probably start thinking for ourselves a bit more.
650161
The word Christian means -Christ like, nothing more or less, so if you stop being Christ like (keeping gods laws and statues)then your no longer a Christian. You must keep it up as long as Christ did to be exactly like him.(CHRISTIAN) DID JESUS TAKE A BREAK IN BEING RIGHTEOUS?
811062
There is a lot of difference between claiming to be Christian and actually being one.  Many churches blessed the weapons of WWII Germans, while their brethren are doing the same thing here.
1087736
they believe in deviating from the mainstream christians and plagiarised the bible to have one that suits them
334846
I personally believe that they have crossed over from devotion to God to being utterly looney tunes.  That is completely sick and twisted.\n\nAs a Christian I feel it trivializes what Christ went through.  It's as if they are trying to be righteous on their own.  I am utterly offended by this practice.\n\nI also believe this harms the cause of Christ.  To do something so unspeakable in the name of Christ sullies the Faith.  How is a non-Christian supposed to react to this?\n\nAs Christians we are called to be salt and light to the world.  We are to go and make disciples of all nations.  We are not called to turn inward and be consumed by our own rituals.\n\nThis applies to all forms of self mutilation and flaggelation in my opinion.
728408
christian? no, I wouldn't say that; more like a miragian.....Why? are you writing a thesis?