I dunno, not sure exactly what you mean by “I’m an American” Christians, but where I come from, patriotism and reverence of the American veteran are very much a part of Christian worship, with the American flag just eeeeever-so-slightly below the cross at a prominent location in the sanctuary. Visiting soldiers get standing ovations from the congregation (but not visiting missionaries to some of the same countries where the soldiers are killing people, mind you). The pledge of allegiance is cited in Christian schools with more rigor than secular schools, with “ONE NATION UNDER GOD” shouted by the student body with creepy gusto. If that’s what you mean by “I’m an American” Christians, I assure you they are quite alive and well…
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Because people can mean so many different things by that.
I am delighted with your description! I found it encouraging.
I am thinking of people who don’t know what they are or what to believe and reason that since this is a “christian” nation, they’ll call themselves Christian, though they may or may not read the Bible, let alone know the Lord.
I admit I have never met such a person. Maybe it is only an artificial stereotype that I have heard preachers talk about and these people don’t really exist!
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I agree with you… I think such people must be rare in this century!
I found my description quite depressing, actually. I suppose I’m glad it’s encouraging to somebody, though! 
Fascinating question, both to try to answer and to read about. After thinking about it, I think Christy’s answer was covers things well:
We all want to be part of a tribe, and things are fragmented enough that is hard to decide what tribe is the best fit, and a lot of us, maybe most here, are like Jacob, sojourners in this land. While no one used the term, it was popular in years past to say “Christ follower” rather than Christian due to various factors… Now, the term “evangelical” has been sullied, and we choke on using that term even though in the classical sense it was perfectly good. Now, in case people want to put me in a category that has more meaning, I align most closely with moderate Baptist theology, though am aware of its warts and problems and on eschatology, am pretty much amillennialist, which is against the grain, but rank and file members tend to be more diverse than leadership, though that is a different but interesting topic. I like Russell Moore’s viewpoint on things for the most part, though on some issues am probably a little more liberal than he, for what it is worth.
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Perhaps, But i side with Christy on this! If someone wants to know more they can ask. And if they say something about me that doesn’t fit with what i believe, I will tell them.
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Thank you Phil , I hope someday we will see a little more unity among christians , even among denominations . As a whole Christianity at times seems a house badly divided .
It seems like we rarely come together without a common issue , even then the bonds seem fleeting.
Just my perspective on it though .
[The problem with ‘Christian’] That applies to any label people actually have a concept of. You could find a label that perfectly encapsulates your beliefs with no baggage, but a huge percentage of the people you give it to would stare at you blankly with no clue what you are talking about. So you would have to have a conversation anyway. Personally, the more narrowly defining a label is, the more I think it gives people the impression that the user wants to separate themselves off into a tiny corner with other like minds.
Maybe it comes down to what the purpose of identifying yourself is. I assume it is for a social function, to aid in relating, because when we know how others identify, we make adjustments in how we relate. So I prefer a very broad term, because I think that offers the most possible common ground.
But, if the purpose is just to have some personal, known only to the individual, category to nail down one’s positions, then I guess it doesn’t matter. My views are sometimes more nebulous and fluid than most very discrete labels capture, so I don’t feel the need for such a label to define myself internally. The only reason I would want one would be for social purposes.
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Which is exactly what some people do have in mind as they pursue what they deem to be purity in worship, fellowship, and education of their children. They will recite chapter and verse for “Come out and be separate …” and so forth. The Amish have tried it along with many others.
And in partial defense of the practice, I suppose we all do it to varying extents. There is only so much disagreement I tolerate (much less embrace) before I decide that “the other” has goals that are too divergent from mine for us to maintain consistent fellowship. Of course, “relationship” can exist apart from “fellowship”, but it would be hard for such relationship not to be burdened down with all the adversarial stances that must intrude if at least one party feels strongly about items of disagreement. So perhaps we could say that some want their name to capture their defining identity for tribal purposes, while others are more interested in challenging and poking at tribal boundaries to create more porosity there.
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I understand these sentiments, and empathize. For me, though, this is precisely why I use the term “Christian” without modifier. For instance, the villainy of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to their respective anti-fan-clubs is so complete that one can scarcely imagine peacefully co-existing in the same fellowship with members of the other anti-fan-club. Fellowship is indeed strained by adversarial stances, and by conflicting taboos, triggers for disgust, etc. It always has been — now it may be Trump/Clinton or attitudes towards guns or LGBT issues or abortion or Islam, where back in Paul’s day perhaps it was meat sacrificed to idols or whether this day or that was special. But this is why we must work hard to listen to one another in love and to keep the focus on Jesus, “making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bonds of peace” (there’s that favorite book of mine rearing its head again).
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I guess I’m more " Popeye" about it …
" I am what I am " …
Pentecostal is my member of the body of Christ …
I know there are denominational differences …
Just like the eye is not the ear…doesn’t mean they don’t serve a purpose.
My pastor once told me , although he is a Pentecostal…a follower of the Pentecostal doctrine …
He is also a Catholic because he is all embracing …
He is Baptist because he baptizes
He is Methodist because he has a method
He is Lutheran because he believes in grace through faith
And so on , etc etc …
I realised when he explained it in detail , that he played loose with the definitions , but I think that was the point he was trying to make … Perhaps we should be a little more loose with our definitions …
How can we stand before God while holding a grudge against our brother ?
How can we ever have unity if we don’t find common ground ?
Who among us is fit to judge ?
There may always be tares among the wheat ,even in our own church , but there are reapers set for the harvest to do the separation in it’s season , not our job …
That was what i got from it anyway .
But I have been told by other Pentecostals that I’m too accepting … mostly about Evolution…lol…
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It depends who is asking! Christian is the short answer.
If a non Christian asks in my town, I will probably identify with the church I belong to because then I can explain that we like to pray for people… and is there anything they want me to pray for? This takes the conversation away from beliefs and definitions to considering a relationship with God.
If the Evangelical Alliance (UK) is asking, I get frustrated because they don’t give me the category I want which is a thinking charismatic (New Wine) Baptist/Anglican evolutionary creationist (with a touch of Bethel!)
But I get on with most Christians and firmly believe in churches working together and praying together!
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Thank you Mary , I agree , when I was attending a small town church , we often invited other churches to public events , we even had a wonderful town wide prayer service with 4 denominations praying together .
I just quoted this one, but @Christy is killing it in this thread! I could quote all of it! So often you are able to simply and concisely put into words my thoughts way better than I ever could.
As to the OP, Socially, I call myself a Christian if one asked in ‘small talk’.
Also nailed it!
My hopes would be rather than to tell someone a label, for them to ask me why I have the hope/joy I have. For them to see God in me and want to know who He is, not what beliefs I have.
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I don’t really know what to call myself where Christianity is concerned, possibly an ally but also admittedly a critic sometimes. Thanks to the work you are doing here I am hopeful that more Christians will become less dogmatic about insisting on biblical answers to empirical questions. I wish for all Christians that they will become ever more confident in themselves as worthy partners with God. I agree that we are dependent upon God if we hope to live a meaningful life, but I think God would prefer a partner to a follower. We aren’t complete on our own but we are far from nothing and there is a reason God has ceded control over our life to us.
Of course some of you realize that I believe only in a natural God, one not able to provide anyone with an afterlife. I also don’t think God had any role in the creation of the cosmos or of life on earth. But there is a sense in which it is true that God has created and sustains us all, but all of that is something I conceive of as going on within the consciousness arising in our minds. Consciousness is not our (conscious) creation, rather what we experience is a gift made possible by an older form of consciousness. That is what I believe but I can’t begin to guess how then I should answer the question posed in this thread.
While I am an atheist in relation to creation and an afterlife, I do think meaning comes from what you call God. I don’t actually know what to call it myself. An unresolvable mystery most likely, but whatever it may be it is what completes us and sustains us. For that, like you, I am grateful. To serve it is ultimately key to fulfillment. I simply disagree that the best way to accomplish that is to be found in any one book, though many may offer clues. In the end the mystery is still there resisting all efforts to define or name it.
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Traditionalist Catholic who is sympathetic to John Calvin.
In terms of origins, I was once firmly an evolutionist, but now I’m undecided between theistic evolution, old earth creation, and young earth creation. At this point I’m basically agnostic on the issue.
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Toilet paper. Do you roll it over? or under?
[…think carefully; your eternal destiny is being evaluated…]
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The answer would have to be ‘over.’
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Okay – you’re in. Now you can help me try to reach the rest of these heathen around here. 
Seriously, though. I think you identified over in another thread as a Catholic who doesn’t much connect with what you see at Biologos. I wouldn’t mind hearing more about that.
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