Christian or christian?

So when I was growing up, I learned to differitiate the words 'Communist' and 'communist'. A 'communist' was a person who beleived in the economic philosophy of communism, i.e. all ownership, profits, and debts are communal and the responsibilty and priviledge of all members. A 'Communist' was a member of the Soviet Communist Party, which is communist only in name, and, from what I understand, was much more a political and economic oligarchy.

The reason I bring this up is because of something that Michael Gatlin said in his message last week. He quoted a person he had met years before, saying "If Jesus were alive today, would he be a Christian?" (Capitalization is mine, obviously) It made me wonder if there is a distinction between christians and Christians and what that distinction might be.

My natural inclination is to extend the Communist/communist analog further and say that one is a person that seeks to become like Christ, while the other is a member of an organization which may or may not hold to the teachings of Christ. The problem, and it is merely a sematic one, is which is which? The word 'communist' comes for the base word 'commune', so capitalizing it sets it apart from the original meaning. But 'christian' comes from 'Christ-like', so should the original term be capitalized of not?

Well, a quick look at Wikipedia, confirmed by digging out and looking up in my junior high edition of Writers Inc, tells me that adjectives that are derived from proper names should retian the capitalization. Therefore, I am a Christian man. I would assume that a noun derived from a proper name would also be capitalized. Therefore, I am a Christian.

So I think what I need to do here is the opposite of the convention that I learned regarding c/Communism. Christian will refer to a follower of Christ, while christian will refer to a member of an organization. Although I don't find this solution altogether satisfying, either. This will require more thought.