Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber to be an example of a charismatic religious leader. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The label Christian is claimed with an almost rabid eagerness by most people in America that want to serve in public office. To say you are not Christian is to invite the distrust of the electorate. It seems strange to me that just making this claim is some sort of magic incantation, making someone worthy of the public’s admiration when it is so easy to find two Christians who do not agree on what it means to be so.

For some Christians, the Bible is the inerrant, literal word of God. For others it is a collection of stories, maybe factual maybe not, through which to feel their connection to the Divine. There are those that believe emphasis should be placed on the New Testament while other  believe it should be the Old. Some feel God can only be reached by trusting in his Earthly authorities while others believe he can only be reached by personally reading and understanding the Bible.

There are all these differences between the many groups of Christians and whenever a public disagreement rears its ugly head you will hear accusations from members of both sides claiming the other are not “real” Christians. Would it not be more appropriate, less vicious and certainly more productive just to agree you do not feel the same call that the other does? I may not know much about Christianity, but that whole “turn the other cheek” bit seems like it should come into play here.

No matter what the case is though, no matter which variety of Christianity you follow, I would hope that given all of the above you would treat any politician claiming that label with a healthy dose of skepticism. At the very least, you should demand they are more specific.