Hasty separation

One of the biggest tragedies in American Christianity, in my opinion, is the hasty separation from the movements that spawned our own churches, and the rush to adopt new names to separate ourselves from the old ones. I see people avoiding using terms like "Baptist," "Lutheran," "evangelical," "fundamentalist," and more not because these terms represent a failure to hold to the Gospel, but rather because the use of these terms is embarassing in light of the actions of some leaders, or even false stereotypes.

Unfortunately, this isn't Biblical separation, but rather just the strategic changing of names to accomodate the times. It's the Christian world's version of GM marketing, where the nameplates are changed ("it's not an Olds, it's a Saturn"), but the product remains the same. As former GM customers have made clear, it comes perilously close to false witness.