Christianism

Christianism is a term describing how some adherents of Christianity, particularly those on the American Christian right, turn Christianity into a political dogma and use it for the pursuit of political power. It is intended to distinguish "Christians"—believers in the religion Christianity—from "Christianists"—those who use Christianity, and particularly Christian fundamentalism, as a guide to politics and a means to political power. The term is analogous with "Islamism", in that both terms describe forms of social and political activism advocating that public and political life should be guided by religion (Islam in the case of Islamism and Christianity in the case of Christianism).
The term is often used pejoratively to describe the Christian right in the United States.
History.
Writing in 2005, William Safire, language columnist for "The New York Times", attributed the term (in this novel usage) to 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." Sullivan later expanded on his usage of the term in a "Time" magazine column.
The bloggers Tristero and David Neiwert used the term shortly after. Sullivan revived the term in December 2020, arguing that evangelical Christians have deepened their fusion between church and state with their staunch support of US President Donald Trump, saying that "Christianists now believe that Trump has been selected by God to save them from persecution and the republic from collapse...This belief is now held with the same, unwavering fundamentalist certainty as a Biblical text."
Uses of the term can be found dating back to the seventeenth century, but these are unrelated to the meaning in its modern usage.