Dan Savage uses a word in this week’s column that I haven’t seen before: Christianist. By analogy with Islamist, its meaning is clear. I like it quite a bit. I’m happy to see any term that helps make clear that Pat Robertson doesn’t represent most Christian Americans—that for most Christians in this country, our perception of Jesus Christ as the light of the world and our desire to build America as a city upon a hill are completely unrelated.

I’m pretty sure Savage didn’t originate the word. Wikipedia references it and connects it to Dominionism. That’s a bit less catchy, for all its 1220 connections. Just as we should discourage Islamist government abroad, we should discourage Christianist government here—and encourage good Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Pastafarians, and anybody else into government based on their political policies..