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While the semantics ring true, the application fails. When someone from another culture calls an America a Yankee, they are using a slang term. Slang terms only have a common definition in the region they were created. When speaking grammatically correct, an American would be an American. Even when a person in the United States refers to someone living North of the Mason Dixon line as a Yankee, they are still using a slang term.
In your reference to China, a Mongolian living in a region occupied by China would be Chinese. The descriptor “Chinese” when used grammatically correct refers to anyone living within Chinese borders. The Mongolians would at this time be nothing but a sub-set of the Chinese.
Continuing on to your multi-denominational congregation, if you are all part of the Catholic Church, based upon the universal definition you provided, then the various other denominations are but a sub-set of Catholicism. If this case, the descriptor you were looking to use would indeed be Catholic, not Christian. If in fact Catholic is universal and the Roman Catholics are a sub-set of the Catholic church, the rest of the world would have no problem being able to see this.
The above alleviates the confusion you are trying to avoid. You said yourself; you are arguing the language, not the religion. Language upholds the statement that Mormons are Christian. If you insist they are not, then you are arguing a religious standpoint and aren’t arguing use of language at all.
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