What Is A Christian and Where Do You Fit In? Anderson Cooper Addresses This Question And More!
So are you a Christian? According to Polling data from the 2001 ARIS study, 76.5% (159 million) of Americans identify themselves as Christian.
Television personality, Anderson Cooper claims higher stats, reporting that in the United States, “more than 85 percent is Christian and two-thirds of Americans!
Part 1 Anderson Cooper
Wikepidea says that A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah (the Christ in Greek-derived terminology) prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.
The term “Christian” is also used adjectivally to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a proverbial sense “all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like,”[2] as in
the Christian thing to do.
Part 2 Anderson Cooper
The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance say that “Who is a Christian?” is “a simple question with many answers and no consensus.” They found a near consensus within individual faith groups.
Religious Tolerance claims that:
Most liberal Christian denominations, secularists, and public opinion pollsters define “Christian” very broadly as any person or group who sincerely believes themselves to be Christian. Using this definition, Christians total about 75% of the North American adult population.
Part 3 Anderson Cooper
Many Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Protestants define “Christian” more narrowly to include only those persons who have been “born again” or have made a personal commitment to follow Jesus irrespective of their denomination. About 35% of the North American adult population identify themselves in this way.
Part 4 Anderson Cooper
Some Protestant Christian denominations, para-church groups, and individuals have assembled their own lists of cardinal Christian doctrines. Many would regard anyone who denies even one of their cardinal doctrines to be a non-Christian. Unfortunately, there is a wide diversity of opinion as to which historical Christian beliefs are cardinal doctrines.
Part 5 Anderson Cooper
Other denominations and sects regard their own members to be the only true Christians in
the world. Some are quite small, numbering only a few thousand followers.
Part 6 Anderson Cooper
Part 7 Anderson Cooper
So where do you stand? What’s your definition of a Christian? I would love to know what you think. Please comment and let’s get the discussion going!
