What does it mean to be a true Christian?

This is an age-old theological dilemma. And trust us, dear Shmoopers, we're not going to try to approach an answer to this question with a two hundred-foot pole.

However, as per usual, Bryan had an opinion:

If true Christianity consists in carrying out in our daily lives the teachings of Christ, who will say that we are commanded to civilize with dynamite and proselyte with the sword? He who would declare the divine will must prove his authority either by Holy Writ or by evidence of a special dispensation. (100)

For Bryan, there was definitely, a "true" version of Christianity. Never mind the fact that people have had so many different opinions on the topic that it's almost impossible to say what's really true about any of it. (Wars have been waged for less, that's for sure.)

Bryan was definitely into the bearded-hippy version of the Christian Jesus. He could see the biblical son of God wearing a shirt that read Make Love, Not War. Or, as Bryan preferred to put it,

Love, not force, was the weapon of the Nazarene; sacrifice for others, not the exploitation of them, was His method of reaching the human heart. (102)

But this vision Christianity wasn't really up for debate for him, either. There's the real deal and there's the cheap knock-off being sold on the street corner. In other words, Bryan argued that anti-imperial Democrats were the "true" Christians.

Republicans? Well, not so much.