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Christianism had various definitions over the years.

It was originally defined as " the Christian religion " or " the Christian world ", with cognates in languages like Spanish ( cristianismo ) or French ( christianisme ) retaining this meaning.

In recent years, Christianism ( or Christianist ) has also been used as a descriptive term of Christian fundamentalists, mostly in the United States, for the ideology of the Christian right, meant as a counterpoint to " Islamism ".

Writing in 2005, the New York Times language columnist William Safire attributed the term ( in its modern usage ) to conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan, who wrote on June 1, 2003: I have a new term for those on the fringes of the religious right who have used the Gospels to perpetuate their own aspirations for power, control and oppression: Christianists.

They are as anathema to true Christians as the Islamists are to true Islam.

" The liberal bloggers Tristero and David Neiwert used the term shortly after.

Sullivan later expanded on his usage of the term in a Time magazine column.

Uses of the term can be found dating back to the seventeenth century, but these are unrelated to its modern meaning.