I was reading an article the other day about the famous (imfamous) media campaigner Mary Whitehouse; where she was described as “a comitted Christian”. What struck me was that in the context of the article this was not a good thing – indeed it was a signpost that Mary Whitehouse was barking mad and bloody annoying. I paused for a moment and tried to recall the times I’ve seen that description applied to people in various articles – and sure enough, every time it carried an ostensibly negative connotation.

In some respects it seems to me that the description “a comitted Christian” works the same way as when a reporter or news-reader describes someone as a “homosexual” rather than as gay or lesbian. It’s “code” for this person is depraved, sick, and needs both our pity and our disdain.

What is even more intriguing to me is that I am unable to think of examples of positive tags for “comitted Christians” who are appearing in articles or reports. That is, just as lesbian, or gay, is the “liberal” or “complimentary” term used there does not appear to be such a positive descriptive for us Christians.