Oxford University Press sends out daily emails with tibits from one of their grammar books, Garner’s Modern American Usage. (Hey, doesn’t everybody want to learn better language skills?) Today’s entry was on the term MAINSTREAM, a pretty common term these days. Here’s some of what they say (image and emphasis added):

mainstream, v.t.

“Mainstream” as a verb is a jargonistic vogue word. It originated in the mid-1970s when Congress mandated that handicapped children be accommodated in regular classrooms. The following use is typical — e.g.: “Adrienne Lissner of St. Louis advocates mainstreaming autistic children in school.” (A possible revision: “Adrienne Lissner of St. Louis advocates putting autistic children into regular classes.” Or: “Adrienne Lissner of St. Louis advocates keeping autistic children in regular schools.”)

In the 1980s the word came to be used more and more to denote the integration of any subculture into the main culture…

I’m wondering: have American Christians become mainstreamed in the culture around us?? I fear they have, to a large extent. I think is does not please our Lord, who calls us to be “in the world, but not of the world.”

pdb