dechristianize
- Verb:
- To remove Christian influence or character: "dechristianize" means to strip something of its Christian elements, beliefs, practices, or institutions. It is often used in historical or political contexts where a society, organization, or culture is deliberately made less Christian.
- Verb:
- The revolutionary government sought to dechristianize the education system by removing religious instruction from schools. (To eliminate Christian teachings from the curriculum.)
- During the French Revolution, efforts were made to dechristianize public life, including the replacement of religious holidays with secular celebrations. (To remove Christian practices from civic society.)
"to dechristianize a nation": to systematically reduce or eliminate the Christian faith and its public expression within a country.
- The regime attempted to dechristianize the entire nation by closing churches and banning religious symbols. (The government tried to suppress Christianity on a national scale.)
"to dechristianize a tradition": to modify a custom or practice so that it no longer has Christian associations.
- Some modern celebrations have been dechristianized to make them more inclusive for people of other faiths. (The Christian origins of the festivals have been removed.)
Dechristianization (n): the process or act of removing Christian influence.
- The dechristianization of the calendar was part of the secularization movement. (The process of removing Christian references from the calendar.)
Dechristianized (adj): having been stripped of Christian character.
- The dechristianized version of the ceremony omitted all biblical references. (The ceremony no longer contained Christian elements.)
Christianize (v): the opposite action — to make something Christian.
- Missionaries worked to Christianize the indigenous population. (To convert people to Christianity.)
Secularize: to remove religious (especially Christian) influence from something.
- The government moved to secularize the legal system. (To make it non-religious.)
Deconsecrate: to remove the sacred status of a place or object, often associated with Christianity.
- The old church was deconsecrated and turned into a museum. (Its Christian sanctity was removed.)
To take the Christ out of Christmas: a colloquial expression meaning to remove Christian elements from the Christmas holiday.
- Many feel that commercialism has taken the Christ out of Christmas. (The religious meaning has been lost.)
To secularize the sacred: to strip religious meaning from something that was once holy.
- The museum's display secularized the sacred icons, treating them as art rather than objects of worship. (Removed their Christian religious significance.)
