Suggested usage of religious terms:
Christianity and Islam

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One might think that at least the world Christianity is
not controversial, and is unambiguous. But there are even problems
with this term:
 | The census bureaus of most countries define a Christian as
one who declares themselves to be a Christian. They may be from the conservative,
mainline or liberal wing of the religion. |
 | Webster's New World
Dictionary defines Christian as: "A person believing in Jesus
as the Christ, or in the religion based upon the teachings of Jesus."
This is a rather broad definition. It would exclude some religious liberals
who believe that Jesus was not the Messiah (Christ in Greek) |
 | Concise Oxford Dictionary defines Christian as: "Person
believing in, professing or belonging to the religion of Christ."
They also don't define exactly what the religion of Christ is. Some
religious liberals regard the religion of Christ as Judaism. Others believe
that Jesus' intent was to create a new religion that recognized him as the
resurrected Son of God, a component of the Trinity. |
 | Roman Catholics, liberal and mainline Christians generally
accept, as fellow Christians, any individual or faith group which devoutly, seriously,
and prayerfully
considers themselves to be Christian. So, a
Presbyterian or the Presbyterian Church would accept Mormons and United
Church members as fellow Christians, even though they might strongly disagree on many
points of theology. |
 | Many conservative Christians restrict the use of the term
Christian to refer only to those individuals who believe in all of the historical
doctrines of Christendom: Atonement, Biblical inerrancy,
Biblical inspiration, Heaven and Hell as places of eternal reward and never-ending
torture, incarnation, justification, regeneration of the
spirit, resurrection, second coming of Jesus, salvation, Satan as a living entity,
the Trinity, and the virgin birth. Many Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christians do not regard
mainline and liberal Christians as being part of Christendom. A typical
example showing this exclusion was broadcast over many Christian radio stations
during an "Unshackled" program. A woman described her
childhood, growing up as a
Protestant in a Roman Catholic neighborhood. She related how many of her
Catholic friends later became Christians - i.e. switched from Catholicism to
Evangelical Christianity. A second example of exclusion is seen in many
cities which have one Christian association for conservative pastors, and a
second group for liberal and mainline ministers. |
The definition of Christianity has other implications. One
example is inter-faith marriage:
 | To most North Americans, a inter-faith (or mixed, or
mixed-faith, or inter-religious) marriage involves two people of different
religions. e.g. Christianity and Judaism, or Buddhist and Muslim. |
 | To most North Americans, an intra-faith (or two-church, interchristian, cross-community, inter-denominational, inter-church or
ecumenical) marriage involves two people who follow different traditions or
denominations within a single religion e.g. Roman Catholic and Lutheran,
Southern Baptist and Presbyterian, or Alexandrian Wiccan and Gardnerian
Wiccan. |
 | Many conservative Christians would also regard a marriage to be inter-faith
if one spouse is a conservative
Christian and the other a mainline or liberal Christian. Such a marriage
might be discouraged because of the Bible's recommendations against becoming
"unequally yoked" with an unbeliever. |
There are many other terms that are assigned contrasting meanings by
various Christian groups. Some of these relate to theological concepts,
abortion access, and equal rights for gays and lesbians. Often, conservative
Christian usage of these terms is very different from the meanings assigned
by mainline and liberal Christians and by other groups. This makes dialogue
almost impossible. We have created a cross-cultural
dictionary which describes contrasting definitions for some of these
terms.

 | Islam is the second largest religion in the world. About
20% of the world's population
follow it. It is exceeded in membership numbers only by Christianity. It is
growing , and is expected to surpass Christianity in
membership by about 2025 CE. |
 | Muslim is the preferred
spelling for a follower of Islam. Moslim is not recommended because it is
often pronounced "mawzlem": which sounds like an Arabic word for
"oppressor". |
 | Some Western writers in the
past have referred to Islam as "Mohammedism." This is deeply
offensive to many Muslims, as the term might infer that
Mohammed the Prophet was in some way divine. |
 | The Islamic sacred text, the Qur'an, is viewed as the
direct words of God. It is sometimes referred to as the "Koran" in English;
this spelling is offensive to some Muslims, and is thus not recommended. |
 | Islam has not been described
in much of the Western media in a balanced manner. The most radical Muslims tend to be
given a high profile. Moderate and liberal wings of Islam receive almost no
publicity. |
 | Islam is often held
responsible for the practice of female
genital mutilation. But it is obvious that FGM is grounded in an ancient
cultural
tradition, not in religious belief. In those countries where it is practiced,
it is common among Muslims, Christians, Animists and
followers of other religions. |
 | Jihad (struggle) is probably the most misunderstood religious
word in existence. It often mentioned on Western TV and radio during
news about the Middle East, where it is used as a synonym of
"holy war" - a call to fight against non-Muslims in the defense of
Islam. This is a meaning that is sometimes used by radical Fundamental
Muslims. The vast majority of Muslims have an entirely different definition of Jihad.
It is seen as an individual's personal, internal struggle. The goal may
be achievement in a profession, self-purification, the conquering of
primitive instincts or the attainment of some other noble goal. It is
occasionally used to refer to a defensive war.
More information on "jihad." |
 | Ingrid Mattson, vice president of the Islamic
Society of North America recommends that fellow
Muslims and the U.S. media Americanize terms. e.g.:
 | Using "God" instead of "Allah." |
 | Using "scarf" instead of the "hijab"
that many Muslim women wear over their head. 1 |
|

Related essay on this web site:

- Larry Witham, "Reporters asked to handle 'Islamic' jargon with care,"
Washington Times, at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/

Copyright © 1999 to 2005 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Publishing date: 1999-JUL-22
Latest update: 2005-OCT-30
Author: B.A. Robinson


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