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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 124
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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H O S T I L E
E N V I R O N M E N T
UNDERS TAND I NG AND RES POND I NG
T O A N T I - C H R I S TI A N B I A S
G E O R G E Y A N C E Y
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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InterVarsity Press
PO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
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emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983093 by George Yancey
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission
from InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Pressreg is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSAreg a
movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities colleges and schools
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of Evangelical Students For information about local and regional activities visit intervarsityorg
All Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the New American Standard
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Foundation Used by permission
While any stories in this book are true some names and identifying information may have been
changed to protect the privacy of individuals
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A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
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Y 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093
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Contents
983089 Introduction 983097
983090 Haters Gonna Hate
he Roots of Christianophobia 983090983095
983091 Canrsquot Please All the People 983093983089
983092 Are Christians Responsible for Christianophobia 983094983097
983093 rouble Within 983097983093
983094 Hate Me Not 983089983089983097
983095 How to Deal with Christianophobia 983089983092983089
Appendix Note on Methodology 983089983093983093
Notes 983089983093983095
References 983089983095983091
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1
In t roduct ion
I remember vividly a disturbing conversation that I once had with
a good Christian friend who taught in a high school He told me
that he mentioned one day in class that some Christians around
the world were being killed for their faith o his amazementsome students approved of these murders In their minds it was
time for Christians to face the same death that Christians had
inflicted on others
I was struck by the ahistorical nature of this line of thought
Although Christians in the United States do not face jail or death
for their faith there is a long history of Christians around theworld being punished for their faith I also wondered how so
much hatred had developed against Christians Tis conver-
sation took place almost two decades ago and I see little evi-
dence that this type of hatred has abated
In fact my recent research has confirmed that such hatred is
still very powerful1 David Williamson and I conducted a survey
of culturally progressive activists using open-ended questions
Te survey questions elicited a variety of hostile statements
aimed at conservative Christians One statement in particular
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
(from a male age -) caught my attention ldquoTe only good
Christian is a dead Christianrdquo
Tis statement echoed a quotation from American history In
during the middle of the Indian Wars on the Great Plains
a Comanche chief named osawi told General Philip Sheridan
ldquoMe osawi me good Injunrdquo Sheridan is reported to have replied
ldquoTe only good Indians I ever saw were deadrdquo2 Te accuracy of
this statement has been disputed but the sentiment is clear
when one is in a war one should offer no mercy to the enemy
Te respondent made it clear that he sees Christians as the
enemy and believes that no mercy should be given to them
Tat response should have shocked me It didnrsquot I had already
read a lot of hateful anti-Christian comments Because of their
anonymity the respondents of the survey felt free to state their
opinions bluntly Tose interested in exploring the remarks inmore depth can examine our academic treatment of the subject3
but suffice it to say that such remarks remind us that some
people harbor a high level of irrational hatred toward Christians
We do not know how many people hold similar opinions but we
do know that many of them have social power
As a Christian I was tempted to become angry at those who
spew such venom I might also have matched the hatred of my
friendrsquos students with hatred of my own but I know that this is
not the right way to respond Tere is a contrary temptation to
shy away from confronting such unfair attacks After all are we
not told to turn the other cheek (Matthew ) By one interpre-
tation of this advice I should merely smile and forgive others
when they make hateful comments Perhaps if I do not say any-thing and avoid unpleasant people then life will be easier Yet I
know that this is simplistic and not the proper answer to such
attitudes What is a Christian response to hatred directed at us
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Introduction
Do we ignore that hatred to suffer in silence or do we confront it
Do we actively confront it and if we do then how should we do
so I wish I could tell you that I have perfect answers to such ques-
tions Te reality is that I struggle to identify the proper responses
Over the past few years I have done research into Christiano-
phobia defined as an unreasonable hatred or anger toward Chris-
tians My research indicates that these negative emotions are
generally directed at Christians with a conservative theological or
political perspective4 Tis research has helped me to understand
some of the sources of that hatredmdashnot justify that hatred but
understand it Diving into the data about Christianophobia forced
me as a believer to consider how I should respond to such rancor
Tis book allows me to share some of my insights regarding how
best to respond to those who dislike or fear Christians
MY BACKGROUND
I have not spent my entire academic career analyzing anti-
Christian animosity During my early years as a Christian scholar
I studied racial issues especially as they pertain to Christians
Being an African American Christian I naturally had an interest
in these issues
When I was in graduate school I experienced racism at the
hands of the mother of a woman I dated Te reactions of many
of my Christian friends were anything but supportive leading
me to question the role Christians play in perpetrating racism
in our society I wrote about racism within the church and
became very interested in how Christians can work toward es-
tablishing multiracial congregations While I did research racialissues apart from the church my main focus was helping Chris-
tians deal with the racialized nature of our society I hoped my
work would help to promote racial reconciliation
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
A few years ago I felt a call to change the direction of my re-
search Tere are a variety of issues that led to this shift but one
was my observation of anti-Christian perspectives I noticed these
attitudes in the reporting of local and national events though that
alone would not have motivated me to study anti-Christian ani-
mosity I also saw evidence of anti-Christian attitudes in how
some academics reacted to my faith For example when I was an
adjunct professor I was assigned to four classes in a semester One
class was sociology of race and ethnicity one was sociology of
religion and the other two were introduction to sociology courses
Soon thereafter I learned that some faculty had misgivings about
my ability to teach the religion class because I was a Christian
Tey feared that I would be biased However the fact that I am an
African American did not create any fear about my bias in teaching
the race and ethnicity course While all professors bring somedegree of bias into their teaching (an atheist certainly brings bias
to a sociology of religion course) the comments of these pro-
fessors indicated that black racial bias is acceptable while Christian
religious bias is not I have encountered more barriers in aca-
demia because of my faith than because of my race
Such experiences and my observation of social events convinced
me of the importance of studying hostility toward Christians My
previous work on the dynamics of racial intergroup conflict helped
me to understand issues of prejudice stereotyping bigotry and
hatred in this religious context I saw similar but not identical dy-
namics in anti-Christian hostility While I am convinced that the
Lord used me in my previous racial research to help address im-
portant racial issues he also used my time dealing with racial issuesto prepare me for understanding anti-Christian animosity
Over the past few years I have learned a lot about anti-
Christian animosity First I conducted research on social and
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Introduction
religious bias in academia I learned that evangelicals and fun-
damentalists are the groups most likely to face negative bias by
academics5 Unlike previous work on academic bias my work
was systematic and not anecdotal I found that almost half of all
academics were less willing to hire a candidate for an academic
job if they learned that the person was a conservative Prot-
estant6 Tat work provided evidence of the anti-Christian bias
prevalent throughout the academic community o look at po-
tential anti-Christian attitudes outside of academia I used data
from a national survey to document the extent of antifundamen-
talist hostility in the United States In a research article I showed
that this hostility at least matches the level of anti-Muslim hos-
tility or Islamophobia in our society7 In another book I tested
a theorymdashRight-wing authoritarianismmdashthat argued that vin-
dictiveness and hostility toward out-groups are much moreprevalent among religious and political conservatives than
among religious and political progressives I demonstrated that
religious and political progressives do possess vindictiveness
and hostility when asked about conservative Christians8
Finally I wanted to know what Christianophobia looks like
Te research I did on culturally progressive activists provided
several clues about the nature of Christianophobia in our society
I analyzed those answers and used a probability sample to doc-
ument the characteristics of those who have Christianophobia
My coauthored book provides solid analyses of the perception
individuals with Christianophobia have of Christians how they
dehumanize Christians and what they want in our society9 Te
responses from the national survey that is the basis for So ManyChristians replicated my earlier finding that conservative Chris-
tians face more animosity in society than any religious groups
other than atheists Tose with this animosity are more likely to
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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H O S T I L E
E N V I R O N M E N T
UNDERS TAND I NG AND RES POND I NG
T O A N T I - C H R I S TI A N B I A S
G E O R G E Y A N C E Y
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InterVarsity Press
PO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
ivpresscom
emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983093 by George Yancey
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission
from InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Pressreg is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSAreg a
movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities colleges and schools
of nursing in the United States of America and a member movement of the International Fellowship
of Evangelical Students For information about local and regional activities visit intervarsityorg
All Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the New American Standard
Biblereg copyright 983089983097983094983088 983089983097983094983090 983089983097983094983091 983089983097983094983096 983089983097983095983089 983089983097983095983090 983089983097983095983091 983089983097983095983093 983089983097983095983095 983089983097983097983093 by Te Lockman
Foundation Used by permission
While any stories in this book are true some names and identifying information may have been
changed to protect the privacy of individuals
Cover design Cindy Kiple
Interior design Beth McGill
Images Suffering Christ Ecce Homo or Suffering Christ by Bartolome Esteban Murillo at Caylus
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ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983092983092983090983090-983095 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983097983095983094983097-983096 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
As a member of the Green Press Initiative InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting the environment and to the responsible use of natural resources o learnmore visit greenpressinitiativeorg
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
P 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093
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Contents
983089 Introduction 983097
983090 Haters Gonna Hate
he Roots of Christianophobia 983090983095
983091 Canrsquot Please All the People 983093983089
983092 Are Christians Responsible for Christianophobia 983094983097
983093 rouble Within 983097983093
983094 Hate Me Not 983089983089983097
983095 How to Deal with Christianophobia 983089983092983089
Appendix Note on Methodology 983089983093983093
Notes 983089983093983095
References 983089983095983091
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1
In t roduct ion
I remember vividly a disturbing conversation that I once had with
a good Christian friend who taught in a high school He told me
that he mentioned one day in class that some Christians around
the world were being killed for their faith o his amazementsome students approved of these murders In their minds it was
time for Christians to face the same death that Christians had
inflicted on others
I was struck by the ahistorical nature of this line of thought
Although Christians in the United States do not face jail or death
for their faith there is a long history of Christians around theworld being punished for their faith I also wondered how so
much hatred had developed against Christians Tis conver-
sation took place almost two decades ago and I see little evi-
dence that this type of hatred has abated
In fact my recent research has confirmed that such hatred is
still very powerful1 David Williamson and I conducted a survey
of culturally progressive activists using open-ended questions
Te survey questions elicited a variety of hostile statements
aimed at conservative Christians One statement in particular
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
(from a male age -) caught my attention ldquoTe only good
Christian is a dead Christianrdquo
Tis statement echoed a quotation from American history In
during the middle of the Indian Wars on the Great Plains
a Comanche chief named osawi told General Philip Sheridan
ldquoMe osawi me good Injunrdquo Sheridan is reported to have replied
ldquoTe only good Indians I ever saw were deadrdquo2 Te accuracy of
this statement has been disputed but the sentiment is clear
when one is in a war one should offer no mercy to the enemy
Te respondent made it clear that he sees Christians as the
enemy and believes that no mercy should be given to them
Tat response should have shocked me It didnrsquot I had already
read a lot of hateful anti-Christian comments Because of their
anonymity the respondents of the survey felt free to state their
opinions bluntly Tose interested in exploring the remarks inmore depth can examine our academic treatment of the subject3
but suffice it to say that such remarks remind us that some
people harbor a high level of irrational hatred toward Christians
We do not know how many people hold similar opinions but we
do know that many of them have social power
As a Christian I was tempted to become angry at those who
spew such venom I might also have matched the hatred of my
friendrsquos students with hatred of my own but I know that this is
not the right way to respond Tere is a contrary temptation to
shy away from confronting such unfair attacks After all are we
not told to turn the other cheek (Matthew ) By one interpre-
tation of this advice I should merely smile and forgive others
when they make hateful comments Perhaps if I do not say any-thing and avoid unpleasant people then life will be easier Yet I
know that this is simplistic and not the proper answer to such
attitudes What is a Christian response to hatred directed at us
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Introduction
Do we ignore that hatred to suffer in silence or do we confront it
Do we actively confront it and if we do then how should we do
so I wish I could tell you that I have perfect answers to such ques-
tions Te reality is that I struggle to identify the proper responses
Over the past few years I have done research into Christiano-
phobia defined as an unreasonable hatred or anger toward Chris-
tians My research indicates that these negative emotions are
generally directed at Christians with a conservative theological or
political perspective4 Tis research has helped me to understand
some of the sources of that hatredmdashnot justify that hatred but
understand it Diving into the data about Christianophobia forced
me as a believer to consider how I should respond to such rancor
Tis book allows me to share some of my insights regarding how
best to respond to those who dislike or fear Christians
MY BACKGROUND
I have not spent my entire academic career analyzing anti-
Christian animosity During my early years as a Christian scholar
I studied racial issues especially as they pertain to Christians
Being an African American Christian I naturally had an interest
in these issues
When I was in graduate school I experienced racism at the
hands of the mother of a woman I dated Te reactions of many
of my Christian friends were anything but supportive leading
me to question the role Christians play in perpetrating racism
in our society I wrote about racism within the church and
became very interested in how Christians can work toward es-
tablishing multiracial congregations While I did research racialissues apart from the church my main focus was helping Chris-
tians deal with the racialized nature of our society I hoped my
work would help to promote racial reconciliation
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
A few years ago I felt a call to change the direction of my re-
search Tere are a variety of issues that led to this shift but one
was my observation of anti-Christian perspectives I noticed these
attitudes in the reporting of local and national events though that
alone would not have motivated me to study anti-Christian ani-
mosity I also saw evidence of anti-Christian attitudes in how
some academics reacted to my faith For example when I was an
adjunct professor I was assigned to four classes in a semester One
class was sociology of race and ethnicity one was sociology of
religion and the other two were introduction to sociology courses
Soon thereafter I learned that some faculty had misgivings about
my ability to teach the religion class because I was a Christian
Tey feared that I would be biased However the fact that I am an
African American did not create any fear about my bias in teaching
the race and ethnicity course While all professors bring somedegree of bias into their teaching (an atheist certainly brings bias
to a sociology of religion course) the comments of these pro-
fessors indicated that black racial bias is acceptable while Christian
religious bias is not I have encountered more barriers in aca-
demia because of my faith than because of my race
Such experiences and my observation of social events convinced
me of the importance of studying hostility toward Christians My
previous work on the dynamics of racial intergroup conflict helped
me to understand issues of prejudice stereotyping bigotry and
hatred in this religious context I saw similar but not identical dy-
namics in anti-Christian hostility While I am convinced that the
Lord used me in my previous racial research to help address im-
portant racial issues he also used my time dealing with racial issuesto prepare me for understanding anti-Christian animosity
Over the past few years I have learned a lot about anti-
Christian animosity First I conducted research on social and
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Introduction
religious bias in academia I learned that evangelicals and fun-
damentalists are the groups most likely to face negative bias by
academics5 Unlike previous work on academic bias my work
was systematic and not anecdotal I found that almost half of all
academics were less willing to hire a candidate for an academic
job if they learned that the person was a conservative Prot-
estant6 Tat work provided evidence of the anti-Christian bias
prevalent throughout the academic community o look at po-
tential anti-Christian attitudes outside of academia I used data
from a national survey to document the extent of antifundamen-
talist hostility in the United States In a research article I showed
that this hostility at least matches the level of anti-Muslim hos-
tility or Islamophobia in our society7 In another book I tested
a theorymdashRight-wing authoritarianismmdashthat argued that vin-
dictiveness and hostility toward out-groups are much moreprevalent among religious and political conservatives than
among religious and political progressives I demonstrated that
religious and political progressives do possess vindictiveness
and hostility when asked about conservative Christians8
Finally I wanted to know what Christianophobia looks like
Te research I did on culturally progressive activists provided
several clues about the nature of Christianophobia in our society
I analyzed those answers and used a probability sample to doc-
ument the characteristics of those who have Christianophobia
My coauthored book provides solid analyses of the perception
individuals with Christianophobia have of Christians how they
dehumanize Christians and what they want in our society9 Te
responses from the national survey that is the basis for So ManyChristians replicated my earlier finding that conservative Chris-
tians face more animosity in society than any religious groups
other than atheists Tose with this animosity are more likely to
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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H O S T I L E
E N V I R O N M E N T
UNDERS TAND I NG AND RES POND I NG
T O A N T I - C H R I S TI A N B I A S
G E O R G E Y A N C E Y
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InterVarsity Press
PO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
ivpresscom
emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983093 by George Yancey
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission
from InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Pressreg is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSAreg a
movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities colleges and schools
of nursing in the United States of America and a member movement of the International Fellowship
of Evangelical Students For information about local and regional activities visit intervarsityorg
All Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the New American Standard
Biblereg copyright 983089983097983094983088 983089983097983094983090 983089983097983094983091 983089983097983094983096 983089983097983095983089 983089983097983095983090 983089983097983095983091 983089983097983095983093 983089983097983095983095 983089983097983097983093 by Te Lockman
Foundation Used by permission
While any stories in this book are true some names and identifying information may have been
changed to protect the privacy of individuals
Cover design Cindy Kiple
Interior design Beth McGill
Images Suffering Christ Ecce Homo or Suffering Christ by Bartolome Esteban Murillo at Caylus
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Fire flames copy sbayramiStockphoto
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ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983092983092983090983090-983095 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983097983095983094983097-983096 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
As a member of the Green Press Initiative InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting the environment and to the responsible use of natural resources o learnmore visit greenpressinitiativeorg
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
P 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093
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Contents
983089 Introduction 983097
983090 Haters Gonna Hate
he Roots of Christianophobia 983090983095
983091 Canrsquot Please All the People 983093983089
983092 Are Christians Responsible for Christianophobia 983094983097
983093 rouble Within 983097983093
983094 Hate Me Not 983089983089983097
983095 How to Deal with Christianophobia 983089983092983089
Appendix Note on Methodology 983089983093983093
Notes 983089983093983095
References 983089983095983091
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1
In t roduct ion
I remember vividly a disturbing conversation that I once had with
a good Christian friend who taught in a high school He told me
that he mentioned one day in class that some Christians around
the world were being killed for their faith o his amazementsome students approved of these murders In their minds it was
time for Christians to face the same death that Christians had
inflicted on others
I was struck by the ahistorical nature of this line of thought
Although Christians in the United States do not face jail or death
for their faith there is a long history of Christians around theworld being punished for their faith I also wondered how so
much hatred had developed against Christians Tis conver-
sation took place almost two decades ago and I see little evi-
dence that this type of hatred has abated
In fact my recent research has confirmed that such hatred is
still very powerful1 David Williamson and I conducted a survey
of culturally progressive activists using open-ended questions
Te survey questions elicited a variety of hostile statements
aimed at conservative Christians One statement in particular
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
(from a male age -) caught my attention ldquoTe only good
Christian is a dead Christianrdquo
Tis statement echoed a quotation from American history In
during the middle of the Indian Wars on the Great Plains
a Comanche chief named osawi told General Philip Sheridan
ldquoMe osawi me good Injunrdquo Sheridan is reported to have replied
ldquoTe only good Indians I ever saw were deadrdquo2 Te accuracy of
this statement has been disputed but the sentiment is clear
when one is in a war one should offer no mercy to the enemy
Te respondent made it clear that he sees Christians as the
enemy and believes that no mercy should be given to them
Tat response should have shocked me It didnrsquot I had already
read a lot of hateful anti-Christian comments Because of their
anonymity the respondents of the survey felt free to state their
opinions bluntly Tose interested in exploring the remarks inmore depth can examine our academic treatment of the subject3
but suffice it to say that such remarks remind us that some
people harbor a high level of irrational hatred toward Christians
We do not know how many people hold similar opinions but we
do know that many of them have social power
As a Christian I was tempted to become angry at those who
spew such venom I might also have matched the hatred of my
friendrsquos students with hatred of my own but I know that this is
not the right way to respond Tere is a contrary temptation to
shy away from confronting such unfair attacks After all are we
not told to turn the other cheek (Matthew ) By one interpre-
tation of this advice I should merely smile and forgive others
when they make hateful comments Perhaps if I do not say any-thing and avoid unpleasant people then life will be easier Yet I
know that this is simplistic and not the proper answer to such
attitudes What is a Christian response to hatred directed at us
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Introduction
Do we ignore that hatred to suffer in silence or do we confront it
Do we actively confront it and if we do then how should we do
so I wish I could tell you that I have perfect answers to such ques-
tions Te reality is that I struggle to identify the proper responses
Over the past few years I have done research into Christiano-
phobia defined as an unreasonable hatred or anger toward Chris-
tians My research indicates that these negative emotions are
generally directed at Christians with a conservative theological or
political perspective4 Tis research has helped me to understand
some of the sources of that hatredmdashnot justify that hatred but
understand it Diving into the data about Christianophobia forced
me as a believer to consider how I should respond to such rancor
Tis book allows me to share some of my insights regarding how
best to respond to those who dislike or fear Christians
MY BACKGROUND
I have not spent my entire academic career analyzing anti-
Christian animosity During my early years as a Christian scholar
I studied racial issues especially as they pertain to Christians
Being an African American Christian I naturally had an interest
in these issues
When I was in graduate school I experienced racism at the
hands of the mother of a woman I dated Te reactions of many
of my Christian friends were anything but supportive leading
me to question the role Christians play in perpetrating racism
in our society I wrote about racism within the church and
became very interested in how Christians can work toward es-
tablishing multiracial congregations While I did research racialissues apart from the church my main focus was helping Chris-
tians deal with the racialized nature of our society I hoped my
work would help to promote racial reconciliation
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
A few years ago I felt a call to change the direction of my re-
search Tere are a variety of issues that led to this shift but one
was my observation of anti-Christian perspectives I noticed these
attitudes in the reporting of local and national events though that
alone would not have motivated me to study anti-Christian ani-
mosity I also saw evidence of anti-Christian attitudes in how
some academics reacted to my faith For example when I was an
adjunct professor I was assigned to four classes in a semester One
class was sociology of race and ethnicity one was sociology of
religion and the other two were introduction to sociology courses
Soon thereafter I learned that some faculty had misgivings about
my ability to teach the religion class because I was a Christian
Tey feared that I would be biased However the fact that I am an
African American did not create any fear about my bias in teaching
the race and ethnicity course While all professors bring somedegree of bias into their teaching (an atheist certainly brings bias
to a sociology of religion course) the comments of these pro-
fessors indicated that black racial bias is acceptable while Christian
religious bias is not I have encountered more barriers in aca-
demia because of my faith than because of my race
Such experiences and my observation of social events convinced
me of the importance of studying hostility toward Christians My
previous work on the dynamics of racial intergroup conflict helped
me to understand issues of prejudice stereotyping bigotry and
hatred in this religious context I saw similar but not identical dy-
namics in anti-Christian hostility While I am convinced that the
Lord used me in my previous racial research to help address im-
portant racial issues he also used my time dealing with racial issuesto prepare me for understanding anti-Christian animosity
Over the past few years I have learned a lot about anti-
Christian animosity First I conducted research on social and
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Introduction
religious bias in academia I learned that evangelicals and fun-
damentalists are the groups most likely to face negative bias by
academics5 Unlike previous work on academic bias my work
was systematic and not anecdotal I found that almost half of all
academics were less willing to hire a candidate for an academic
job if they learned that the person was a conservative Prot-
estant6 Tat work provided evidence of the anti-Christian bias
prevalent throughout the academic community o look at po-
tential anti-Christian attitudes outside of academia I used data
from a national survey to document the extent of antifundamen-
talist hostility in the United States In a research article I showed
that this hostility at least matches the level of anti-Muslim hos-
tility or Islamophobia in our society7 In another book I tested
a theorymdashRight-wing authoritarianismmdashthat argued that vin-
dictiveness and hostility toward out-groups are much moreprevalent among religious and political conservatives than
among religious and political progressives I demonstrated that
religious and political progressives do possess vindictiveness
and hostility when asked about conservative Christians8
Finally I wanted to know what Christianophobia looks like
Te research I did on culturally progressive activists provided
several clues about the nature of Christianophobia in our society
I analyzed those answers and used a probability sample to doc-
ument the characteristics of those who have Christianophobia
My coauthored book provides solid analyses of the perception
individuals with Christianophobia have of Christians how they
dehumanize Christians and what they want in our society9 Te
responses from the national survey that is the basis for So ManyChristians replicated my earlier finding that conservative Chris-
tians face more animosity in society than any religious groups
other than atheists Tose with this animosity are more likely to
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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InterVarsity Press
PO Box 983089983092983088983088 Downers Grove IL 983094983088983093983089983093-983089983092983090983094
ivpresscom
emailivpresscom
copy983090983088983089983093 by George Yancey
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission
from InterVarsity Press
InterVarsity Pressreg is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian FellowshipUSAreg a
movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities colleges and schools
of nursing in the United States of America and a member movement of the International Fellowship
of Evangelical Students For information about local and regional activities visit intervarsityorg
All Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the New American Standard
Biblereg copyright 983089983097983094983088 983089983097983094983090 983089983097983094983091 983089983097983094983096 983089983097983095983089 983089983097983095983090 983089983097983095983091 983089983097983095983093 983089983097983095983095 983089983097983097983093 by Te Lockman
Foundation Used by permission
While any stories in this book are true some names and identifying information may have been
changed to protect the privacy of individuals
Cover design Cindy Kiple
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Images Suffering Christ Ecce Homo or Suffering Christ by Bartolome Esteban Murillo at Caylus
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ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983092983092983090983090-983095 (print)
ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983097983095983094983097-983096 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
As a member of the Green Press Initiative InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting the environment and to the responsible use of natural resources o learnmore visit greenpressinitiativeorg
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
P 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 983089983090 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 983094 983093 983092 983091 983090 983089
Y 983091983090 983091983089 983091983088 983090983097 983090983096 983090983095 983090983094 983090983093 983090983092 983090983091 983090983090 983090983089 983090983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 983089983094 983089983093
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Contents
983089 Introduction 983097
983090 Haters Gonna Hate
he Roots of Christianophobia 983090983095
983091 Canrsquot Please All the People 983093983089
983092 Are Christians Responsible for Christianophobia 983094983097
983093 rouble Within 983097983093
983094 Hate Me Not 983089983089983097
983095 How to Deal with Christianophobia 983089983092983089
Appendix Note on Methodology 983089983093983093
Notes 983089983093983095
References 983089983095983091
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1
In t roduct ion
I remember vividly a disturbing conversation that I once had with
a good Christian friend who taught in a high school He told me
that he mentioned one day in class that some Christians around
the world were being killed for their faith o his amazementsome students approved of these murders In their minds it was
time for Christians to face the same death that Christians had
inflicted on others
I was struck by the ahistorical nature of this line of thought
Although Christians in the United States do not face jail or death
for their faith there is a long history of Christians around theworld being punished for their faith I also wondered how so
much hatred had developed against Christians Tis conver-
sation took place almost two decades ago and I see little evi-
dence that this type of hatred has abated
In fact my recent research has confirmed that such hatred is
still very powerful1 David Williamson and I conducted a survey
of culturally progressive activists using open-ended questions
Te survey questions elicited a variety of hostile statements
aimed at conservative Christians One statement in particular
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
(from a male age -) caught my attention ldquoTe only good
Christian is a dead Christianrdquo
Tis statement echoed a quotation from American history In
during the middle of the Indian Wars on the Great Plains
a Comanche chief named osawi told General Philip Sheridan
ldquoMe osawi me good Injunrdquo Sheridan is reported to have replied
ldquoTe only good Indians I ever saw were deadrdquo2 Te accuracy of
this statement has been disputed but the sentiment is clear
when one is in a war one should offer no mercy to the enemy
Te respondent made it clear that he sees Christians as the
enemy and believes that no mercy should be given to them
Tat response should have shocked me It didnrsquot I had already
read a lot of hateful anti-Christian comments Because of their
anonymity the respondents of the survey felt free to state their
opinions bluntly Tose interested in exploring the remarks inmore depth can examine our academic treatment of the subject3
but suffice it to say that such remarks remind us that some
people harbor a high level of irrational hatred toward Christians
We do not know how many people hold similar opinions but we
do know that many of them have social power
As a Christian I was tempted to become angry at those who
spew such venom I might also have matched the hatred of my
friendrsquos students with hatred of my own but I know that this is
not the right way to respond Tere is a contrary temptation to
shy away from confronting such unfair attacks After all are we
not told to turn the other cheek (Matthew ) By one interpre-
tation of this advice I should merely smile and forgive others
when they make hateful comments Perhaps if I do not say any-thing and avoid unpleasant people then life will be easier Yet I
know that this is simplistic and not the proper answer to such
attitudes What is a Christian response to hatred directed at us
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Introduction
Do we ignore that hatred to suffer in silence or do we confront it
Do we actively confront it and if we do then how should we do
so I wish I could tell you that I have perfect answers to such ques-
tions Te reality is that I struggle to identify the proper responses
Over the past few years I have done research into Christiano-
phobia defined as an unreasonable hatred or anger toward Chris-
tians My research indicates that these negative emotions are
generally directed at Christians with a conservative theological or
political perspective4 Tis research has helped me to understand
some of the sources of that hatredmdashnot justify that hatred but
understand it Diving into the data about Christianophobia forced
me as a believer to consider how I should respond to such rancor
Tis book allows me to share some of my insights regarding how
best to respond to those who dislike or fear Christians
MY BACKGROUND
I have not spent my entire academic career analyzing anti-
Christian animosity During my early years as a Christian scholar
I studied racial issues especially as they pertain to Christians
Being an African American Christian I naturally had an interest
in these issues
When I was in graduate school I experienced racism at the
hands of the mother of a woman I dated Te reactions of many
of my Christian friends were anything but supportive leading
me to question the role Christians play in perpetrating racism
in our society I wrote about racism within the church and
became very interested in how Christians can work toward es-
tablishing multiracial congregations While I did research racialissues apart from the church my main focus was helping Chris-
tians deal with the racialized nature of our society I hoped my
work would help to promote racial reconciliation
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
A few years ago I felt a call to change the direction of my re-
search Tere are a variety of issues that led to this shift but one
was my observation of anti-Christian perspectives I noticed these
attitudes in the reporting of local and national events though that
alone would not have motivated me to study anti-Christian ani-
mosity I also saw evidence of anti-Christian attitudes in how
some academics reacted to my faith For example when I was an
adjunct professor I was assigned to four classes in a semester One
class was sociology of race and ethnicity one was sociology of
religion and the other two were introduction to sociology courses
Soon thereafter I learned that some faculty had misgivings about
my ability to teach the religion class because I was a Christian
Tey feared that I would be biased However the fact that I am an
African American did not create any fear about my bias in teaching
the race and ethnicity course While all professors bring somedegree of bias into their teaching (an atheist certainly brings bias
to a sociology of religion course) the comments of these pro-
fessors indicated that black racial bias is acceptable while Christian
religious bias is not I have encountered more barriers in aca-
demia because of my faith than because of my race
Such experiences and my observation of social events convinced
me of the importance of studying hostility toward Christians My
previous work on the dynamics of racial intergroup conflict helped
me to understand issues of prejudice stereotyping bigotry and
hatred in this religious context I saw similar but not identical dy-
namics in anti-Christian hostility While I am convinced that the
Lord used me in my previous racial research to help address im-
portant racial issues he also used my time dealing with racial issuesto prepare me for understanding anti-Christian animosity
Over the past few years I have learned a lot about anti-
Christian animosity First I conducted research on social and
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Introduction
religious bias in academia I learned that evangelicals and fun-
damentalists are the groups most likely to face negative bias by
academics5 Unlike previous work on academic bias my work
was systematic and not anecdotal I found that almost half of all
academics were less willing to hire a candidate for an academic
job if they learned that the person was a conservative Prot-
estant6 Tat work provided evidence of the anti-Christian bias
prevalent throughout the academic community o look at po-
tential anti-Christian attitudes outside of academia I used data
from a national survey to document the extent of antifundamen-
talist hostility in the United States In a research article I showed
that this hostility at least matches the level of anti-Muslim hos-
tility or Islamophobia in our society7 In another book I tested
a theorymdashRight-wing authoritarianismmdashthat argued that vin-
dictiveness and hostility toward out-groups are much moreprevalent among religious and political conservatives than
among religious and political progressives I demonstrated that
religious and political progressives do possess vindictiveness
and hostility when asked about conservative Christians8
Finally I wanted to know what Christianophobia looks like
Te research I did on culturally progressive activists provided
several clues about the nature of Christianophobia in our society
I analyzed those answers and used a probability sample to doc-
ument the characteristics of those who have Christianophobia
My coauthored book provides solid analyses of the perception
individuals with Christianophobia have of Christians how they
dehumanize Christians and what they want in our society9 Te
responses from the national survey that is the basis for So ManyChristians replicated my earlier finding that conservative Chris-
tians face more animosity in society than any religious groups
other than atheists Tose with this animosity are more likely to
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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Contents
983089 Introduction 983097
983090 Haters Gonna Hate
he Roots of Christianophobia 983090983095
983091 Canrsquot Please All the People 983093983089
983092 Are Christians Responsible for Christianophobia 983094983097
983093 rouble Within 983097983093
983094 Hate Me Not 983089983089983097
983095 How to Deal with Christianophobia 983089983092983089
Appendix Note on Methodology 983089983093983093
Notes 983089983093983095
References 983089983095983091
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1
In t roduct ion
I remember vividly a disturbing conversation that I once had with
a good Christian friend who taught in a high school He told me
that he mentioned one day in class that some Christians around
the world were being killed for their faith o his amazementsome students approved of these murders In their minds it was
time for Christians to face the same death that Christians had
inflicted on others
I was struck by the ahistorical nature of this line of thought
Although Christians in the United States do not face jail or death
for their faith there is a long history of Christians around theworld being punished for their faith I also wondered how so
much hatred had developed against Christians Tis conver-
sation took place almost two decades ago and I see little evi-
dence that this type of hatred has abated
In fact my recent research has confirmed that such hatred is
still very powerful1 David Williamson and I conducted a survey
of culturally progressive activists using open-ended questions
Te survey questions elicited a variety of hostile statements
aimed at conservative Christians One statement in particular
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
(from a male age -) caught my attention ldquoTe only good
Christian is a dead Christianrdquo
Tis statement echoed a quotation from American history In
during the middle of the Indian Wars on the Great Plains
a Comanche chief named osawi told General Philip Sheridan
ldquoMe osawi me good Injunrdquo Sheridan is reported to have replied
ldquoTe only good Indians I ever saw were deadrdquo2 Te accuracy of
this statement has been disputed but the sentiment is clear
when one is in a war one should offer no mercy to the enemy
Te respondent made it clear that he sees Christians as the
enemy and believes that no mercy should be given to them
Tat response should have shocked me It didnrsquot I had already
read a lot of hateful anti-Christian comments Because of their
anonymity the respondents of the survey felt free to state their
opinions bluntly Tose interested in exploring the remarks inmore depth can examine our academic treatment of the subject3
but suffice it to say that such remarks remind us that some
people harbor a high level of irrational hatred toward Christians
We do not know how many people hold similar opinions but we
do know that many of them have social power
As a Christian I was tempted to become angry at those who
spew such venom I might also have matched the hatred of my
friendrsquos students with hatred of my own but I know that this is
not the right way to respond Tere is a contrary temptation to
shy away from confronting such unfair attacks After all are we
not told to turn the other cheek (Matthew ) By one interpre-
tation of this advice I should merely smile and forgive others
when they make hateful comments Perhaps if I do not say any-thing and avoid unpleasant people then life will be easier Yet I
know that this is simplistic and not the proper answer to such
attitudes What is a Christian response to hatred directed at us
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Introduction
Do we ignore that hatred to suffer in silence or do we confront it
Do we actively confront it and if we do then how should we do
so I wish I could tell you that I have perfect answers to such ques-
tions Te reality is that I struggle to identify the proper responses
Over the past few years I have done research into Christiano-
phobia defined as an unreasonable hatred or anger toward Chris-
tians My research indicates that these negative emotions are
generally directed at Christians with a conservative theological or
political perspective4 Tis research has helped me to understand
some of the sources of that hatredmdashnot justify that hatred but
understand it Diving into the data about Christianophobia forced
me as a believer to consider how I should respond to such rancor
Tis book allows me to share some of my insights regarding how
best to respond to those who dislike or fear Christians
MY BACKGROUND
I have not spent my entire academic career analyzing anti-
Christian animosity During my early years as a Christian scholar
I studied racial issues especially as they pertain to Christians
Being an African American Christian I naturally had an interest
in these issues
When I was in graduate school I experienced racism at the
hands of the mother of a woman I dated Te reactions of many
of my Christian friends were anything but supportive leading
me to question the role Christians play in perpetrating racism
in our society I wrote about racism within the church and
became very interested in how Christians can work toward es-
tablishing multiracial congregations While I did research racialissues apart from the church my main focus was helping Chris-
tians deal with the racialized nature of our society I hoped my
work would help to promote racial reconciliation
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
A few years ago I felt a call to change the direction of my re-
search Tere are a variety of issues that led to this shift but one
was my observation of anti-Christian perspectives I noticed these
attitudes in the reporting of local and national events though that
alone would not have motivated me to study anti-Christian ani-
mosity I also saw evidence of anti-Christian attitudes in how
some academics reacted to my faith For example when I was an
adjunct professor I was assigned to four classes in a semester One
class was sociology of race and ethnicity one was sociology of
religion and the other two were introduction to sociology courses
Soon thereafter I learned that some faculty had misgivings about
my ability to teach the religion class because I was a Christian
Tey feared that I would be biased However the fact that I am an
African American did not create any fear about my bias in teaching
the race and ethnicity course While all professors bring somedegree of bias into their teaching (an atheist certainly brings bias
to a sociology of religion course) the comments of these pro-
fessors indicated that black racial bias is acceptable while Christian
religious bias is not I have encountered more barriers in aca-
demia because of my faith than because of my race
Such experiences and my observation of social events convinced
me of the importance of studying hostility toward Christians My
previous work on the dynamics of racial intergroup conflict helped
me to understand issues of prejudice stereotyping bigotry and
hatred in this religious context I saw similar but not identical dy-
namics in anti-Christian hostility While I am convinced that the
Lord used me in my previous racial research to help address im-
portant racial issues he also used my time dealing with racial issuesto prepare me for understanding anti-Christian animosity
Over the past few years I have learned a lot about anti-
Christian animosity First I conducted research on social and
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Introduction
religious bias in academia I learned that evangelicals and fun-
damentalists are the groups most likely to face negative bias by
academics5 Unlike previous work on academic bias my work
was systematic and not anecdotal I found that almost half of all
academics were less willing to hire a candidate for an academic
job if they learned that the person was a conservative Prot-
estant6 Tat work provided evidence of the anti-Christian bias
prevalent throughout the academic community o look at po-
tential anti-Christian attitudes outside of academia I used data
from a national survey to document the extent of antifundamen-
talist hostility in the United States In a research article I showed
that this hostility at least matches the level of anti-Muslim hos-
tility or Islamophobia in our society7 In another book I tested
a theorymdashRight-wing authoritarianismmdashthat argued that vin-
dictiveness and hostility toward out-groups are much moreprevalent among religious and political conservatives than
among religious and political progressives I demonstrated that
religious and political progressives do possess vindictiveness
and hostility when asked about conservative Christians8
Finally I wanted to know what Christianophobia looks like
Te research I did on culturally progressive activists provided
several clues about the nature of Christianophobia in our society
I analyzed those answers and used a probability sample to doc-
ument the characteristics of those who have Christianophobia
My coauthored book provides solid analyses of the perception
individuals with Christianophobia have of Christians how they
dehumanize Christians and what they want in our society9 Te
responses from the national survey that is the basis for So ManyChristians replicated my earlier finding that conservative Chris-
tians face more animosity in society than any religious groups
other than atheists Tose with this animosity are more likely to
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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1
In t roduct ion
I remember vividly a disturbing conversation that I once had with
a good Christian friend who taught in a high school He told me
that he mentioned one day in class that some Christians around
the world were being killed for their faith o his amazementsome students approved of these murders In their minds it was
time for Christians to face the same death that Christians had
inflicted on others
I was struck by the ahistorical nature of this line of thought
Although Christians in the United States do not face jail or death
for their faith there is a long history of Christians around theworld being punished for their faith I also wondered how so
much hatred had developed against Christians Tis conver-
sation took place almost two decades ago and I see little evi-
dence that this type of hatred has abated
In fact my recent research has confirmed that such hatred is
still very powerful1 David Williamson and I conducted a survey
of culturally progressive activists using open-ended questions
Te survey questions elicited a variety of hostile statements
aimed at conservative Christians One statement in particular
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
(from a male age -) caught my attention ldquoTe only good
Christian is a dead Christianrdquo
Tis statement echoed a quotation from American history In
during the middle of the Indian Wars on the Great Plains
a Comanche chief named osawi told General Philip Sheridan
ldquoMe osawi me good Injunrdquo Sheridan is reported to have replied
ldquoTe only good Indians I ever saw were deadrdquo2 Te accuracy of
this statement has been disputed but the sentiment is clear
when one is in a war one should offer no mercy to the enemy
Te respondent made it clear that he sees Christians as the
enemy and believes that no mercy should be given to them
Tat response should have shocked me It didnrsquot I had already
read a lot of hateful anti-Christian comments Because of their
anonymity the respondents of the survey felt free to state their
opinions bluntly Tose interested in exploring the remarks inmore depth can examine our academic treatment of the subject3
but suffice it to say that such remarks remind us that some
people harbor a high level of irrational hatred toward Christians
We do not know how many people hold similar opinions but we
do know that many of them have social power
As a Christian I was tempted to become angry at those who
spew such venom I might also have matched the hatred of my
friendrsquos students with hatred of my own but I know that this is
not the right way to respond Tere is a contrary temptation to
shy away from confronting such unfair attacks After all are we
not told to turn the other cheek (Matthew ) By one interpre-
tation of this advice I should merely smile and forgive others
when they make hateful comments Perhaps if I do not say any-thing and avoid unpleasant people then life will be easier Yet I
know that this is simplistic and not the proper answer to such
attitudes What is a Christian response to hatred directed at us
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Introduction
Do we ignore that hatred to suffer in silence or do we confront it
Do we actively confront it and if we do then how should we do
so I wish I could tell you that I have perfect answers to such ques-
tions Te reality is that I struggle to identify the proper responses
Over the past few years I have done research into Christiano-
phobia defined as an unreasonable hatred or anger toward Chris-
tians My research indicates that these negative emotions are
generally directed at Christians with a conservative theological or
political perspective4 Tis research has helped me to understand
some of the sources of that hatredmdashnot justify that hatred but
understand it Diving into the data about Christianophobia forced
me as a believer to consider how I should respond to such rancor
Tis book allows me to share some of my insights regarding how
best to respond to those who dislike or fear Christians
MY BACKGROUND
I have not spent my entire academic career analyzing anti-
Christian animosity During my early years as a Christian scholar
I studied racial issues especially as they pertain to Christians
Being an African American Christian I naturally had an interest
in these issues
When I was in graduate school I experienced racism at the
hands of the mother of a woman I dated Te reactions of many
of my Christian friends were anything but supportive leading
me to question the role Christians play in perpetrating racism
in our society I wrote about racism within the church and
became very interested in how Christians can work toward es-
tablishing multiracial congregations While I did research racialissues apart from the church my main focus was helping Chris-
tians deal with the racialized nature of our society I hoped my
work would help to promote racial reconciliation
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
A few years ago I felt a call to change the direction of my re-
search Tere are a variety of issues that led to this shift but one
was my observation of anti-Christian perspectives I noticed these
attitudes in the reporting of local and national events though that
alone would not have motivated me to study anti-Christian ani-
mosity I also saw evidence of anti-Christian attitudes in how
some academics reacted to my faith For example when I was an
adjunct professor I was assigned to four classes in a semester One
class was sociology of race and ethnicity one was sociology of
religion and the other two were introduction to sociology courses
Soon thereafter I learned that some faculty had misgivings about
my ability to teach the religion class because I was a Christian
Tey feared that I would be biased However the fact that I am an
African American did not create any fear about my bias in teaching
the race and ethnicity course While all professors bring somedegree of bias into their teaching (an atheist certainly brings bias
to a sociology of religion course) the comments of these pro-
fessors indicated that black racial bias is acceptable while Christian
religious bias is not I have encountered more barriers in aca-
demia because of my faith than because of my race
Such experiences and my observation of social events convinced
me of the importance of studying hostility toward Christians My
previous work on the dynamics of racial intergroup conflict helped
me to understand issues of prejudice stereotyping bigotry and
hatred in this religious context I saw similar but not identical dy-
namics in anti-Christian hostility While I am convinced that the
Lord used me in my previous racial research to help address im-
portant racial issues he also used my time dealing with racial issuesto prepare me for understanding anti-Christian animosity
Over the past few years I have learned a lot about anti-
Christian animosity First I conducted research on social and
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Introduction
religious bias in academia I learned that evangelicals and fun-
damentalists are the groups most likely to face negative bias by
academics5 Unlike previous work on academic bias my work
was systematic and not anecdotal I found that almost half of all
academics were less willing to hire a candidate for an academic
job if they learned that the person was a conservative Prot-
estant6 Tat work provided evidence of the anti-Christian bias
prevalent throughout the academic community o look at po-
tential anti-Christian attitudes outside of academia I used data
from a national survey to document the extent of antifundamen-
talist hostility in the United States In a research article I showed
that this hostility at least matches the level of anti-Muslim hos-
tility or Islamophobia in our society7 In another book I tested
a theorymdashRight-wing authoritarianismmdashthat argued that vin-
dictiveness and hostility toward out-groups are much moreprevalent among religious and political conservatives than
among religious and political progressives I demonstrated that
religious and political progressives do possess vindictiveness
and hostility when asked about conservative Christians8
Finally I wanted to know what Christianophobia looks like
Te research I did on culturally progressive activists provided
several clues about the nature of Christianophobia in our society
I analyzed those answers and used a probability sample to doc-
ument the characteristics of those who have Christianophobia
My coauthored book provides solid analyses of the perception
individuals with Christianophobia have of Christians how they
dehumanize Christians and what they want in our society9 Te
responses from the national survey that is the basis for So ManyChristians replicated my earlier finding that conservative Chris-
tians face more animosity in society than any religious groups
other than atheists Tose with this animosity are more likely to
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
(from a male age -) caught my attention ldquoTe only good
Christian is a dead Christianrdquo
Tis statement echoed a quotation from American history In
during the middle of the Indian Wars on the Great Plains
a Comanche chief named osawi told General Philip Sheridan
ldquoMe osawi me good Injunrdquo Sheridan is reported to have replied
ldquoTe only good Indians I ever saw were deadrdquo2 Te accuracy of
this statement has been disputed but the sentiment is clear
when one is in a war one should offer no mercy to the enemy
Te respondent made it clear that he sees Christians as the
enemy and believes that no mercy should be given to them
Tat response should have shocked me It didnrsquot I had already
read a lot of hateful anti-Christian comments Because of their
anonymity the respondents of the survey felt free to state their
opinions bluntly Tose interested in exploring the remarks inmore depth can examine our academic treatment of the subject3
but suffice it to say that such remarks remind us that some
people harbor a high level of irrational hatred toward Christians
We do not know how many people hold similar opinions but we
do know that many of them have social power
As a Christian I was tempted to become angry at those who
spew such venom I might also have matched the hatred of my
friendrsquos students with hatred of my own but I know that this is
not the right way to respond Tere is a contrary temptation to
shy away from confronting such unfair attacks After all are we
not told to turn the other cheek (Matthew ) By one interpre-
tation of this advice I should merely smile and forgive others
when they make hateful comments Perhaps if I do not say any-thing and avoid unpleasant people then life will be easier Yet I
know that this is simplistic and not the proper answer to such
attitudes What is a Christian response to hatred directed at us
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Introduction
Do we ignore that hatred to suffer in silence or do we confront it
Do we actively confront it and if we do then how should we do
so I wish I could tell you that I have perfect answers to such ques-
tions Te reality is that I struggle to identify the proper responses
Over the past few years I have done research into Christiano-
phobia defined as an unreasonable hatred or anger toward Chris-
tians My research indicates that these negative emotions are
generally directed at Christians with a conservative theological or
political perspective4 Tis research has helped me to understand
some of the sources of that hatredmdashnot justify that hatred but
understand it Diving into the data about Christianophobia forced
me as a believer to consider how I should respond to such rancor
Tis book allows me to share some of my insights regarding how
best to respond to those who dislike or fear Christians
MY BACKGROUND
I have not spent my entire academic career analyzing anti-
Christian animosity During my early years as a Christian scholar
I studied racial issues especially as they pertain to Christians
Being an African American Christian I naturally had an interest
in these issues
When I was in graduate school I experienced racism at the
hands of the mother of a woman I dated Te reactions of many
of my Christian friends were anything but supportive leading
me to question the role Christians play in perpetrating racism
in our society I wrote about racism within the church and
became very interested in how Christians can work toward es-
tablishing multiracial congregations While I did research racialissues apart from the church my main focus was helping Chris-
tians deal with the racialized nature of our society I hoped my
work would help to promote racial reconciliation
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
A few years ago I felt a call to change the direction of my re-
search Tere are a variety of issues that led to this shift but one
was my observation of anti-Christian perspectives I noticed these
attitudes in the reporting of local and national events though that
alone would not have motivated me to study anti-Christian ani-
mosity I also saw evidence of anti-Christian attitudes in how
some academics reacted to my faith For example when I was an
adjunct professor I was assigned to four classes in a semester One
class was sociology of race and ethnicity one was sociology of
religion and the other two were introduction to sociology courses
Soon thereafter I learned that some faculty had misgivings about
my ability to teach the religion class because I was a Christian
Tey feared that I would be biased However the fact that I am an
African American did not create any fear about my bias in teaching
the race and ethnicity course While all professors bring somedegree of bias into their teaching (an atheist certainly brings bias
to a sociology of religion course) the comments of these pro-
fessors indicated that black racial bias is acceptable while Christian
religious bias is not I have encountered more barriers in aca-
demia because of my faith than because of my race
Such experiences and my observation of social events convinced
me of the importance of studying hostility toward Christians My
previous work on the dynamics of racial intergroup conflict helped
me to understand issues of prejudice stereotyping bigotry and
hatred in this religious context I saw similar but not identical dy-
namics in anti-Christian hostility While I am convinced that the
Lord used me in my previous racial research to help address im-
portant racial issues he also used my time dealing with racial issuesto prepare me for understanding anti-Christian animosity
Over the past few years I have learned a lot about anti-
Christian animosity First I conducted research on social and
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Introduction
religious bias in academia I learned that evangelicals and fun-
damentalists are the groups most likely to face negative bias by
academics5 Unlike previous work on academic bias my work
was systematic and not anecdotal I found that almost half of all
academics were less willing to hire a candidate for an academic
job if they learned that the person was a conservative Prot-
estant6 Tat work provided evidence of the anti-Christian bias
prevalent throughout the academic community o look at po-
tential anti-Christian attitudes outside of academia I used data
from a national survey to document the extent of antifundamen-
talist hostility in the United States In a research article I showed
that this hostility at least matches the level of anti-Muslim hos-
tility or Islamophobia in our society7 In another book I tested
a theorymdashRight-wing authoritarianismmdashthat argued that vin-
dictiveness and hostility toward out-groups are much moreprevalent among religious and political conservatives than
among religious and political progressives I demonstrated that
religious and political progressives do possess vindictiveness
and hostility when asked about conservative Christians8
Finally I wanted to know what Christianophobia looks like
Te research I did on culturally progressive activists provided
several clues about the nature of Christianophobia in our society
I analyzed those answers and used a probability sample to doc-
ument the characteristics of those who have Christianophobia
My coauthored book provides solid analyses of the perception
individuals with Christianophobia have of Christians how they
dehumanize Christians and what they want in our society9 Te
responses from the national survey that is the basis for So ManyChristians replicated my earlier finding that conservative Chris-
tians face more animosity in society than any religious groups
other than atheists Tose with this animosity are more likely to
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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Introduction
Do we ignore that hatred to suffer in silence or do we confront it
Do we actively confront it and if we do then how should we do
so I wish I could tell you that I have perfect answers to such ques-
tions Te reality is that I struggle to identify the proper responses
Over the past few years I have done research into Christiano-
phobia defined as an unreasonable hatred or anger toward Chris-
tians My research indicates that these negative emotions are
generally directed at Christians with a conservative theological or
political perspective4 Tis research has helped me to understand
some of the sources of that hatredmdashnot justify that hatred but
understand it Diving into the data about Christianophobia forced
me as a believer to consider how I should respond to such rancor
Tis book allows me to share some of my insights regarding how
best to respond to those who dislike or fear Christians
MY BACKGROUND
I have not spent my entire academic career analyzing anti-
Christian animosity During my early years as a Christian scholar
I studied racial issues especially as they pertain to Christians
Being an African American Christian I naturally had an interest
in these issues
When I was in graduate school I experienced racism at the
hands of the mother of a woman I dated Te reactions of many
of my Christian friends were anything but supportive leading
me to question the role Christians play in perpetrating racism
in our society I wrote about racism within the church and
became very interested in how Christians can work toward es-
tablishing multiracial congregations While I did research racialissues apart from the church my main focus was helping Chris-
tians deal with the racialized nature of our society I hoped my
work would help to promote racial reconciliation
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
A few years ago I felt a call to change the direction of my re-
search Tere are a variety of issues that led to this shift but one
was my observation of anti-Christian perspectives I noticed these
attitudes in the reporting of local and national events though that
alone would not have motivated me to study anti-Christian ani-
mosity I also saw evidence of anti-Christian attitudes in how
some academics reacted to my faith For example when I was an
adjunct professor I was assigned to four classes in a semester One
class was sociology of race and ethnicity one was sociology of
religion and the other two were introduction to sociology courses
Soon thereafter I learned that some faculty had misgivings about
my ability to teach the religion class because I was a Christian
Tey feared that I would be biased However the fact that I am an
African American did not create any fear about my bias in teaching
the race and ethnicity course While all professors bring somedegree of bias into their teaching (an atheist certainly brings bias
to a sociology of religion course) the comments of these pro-
fessors indicated that black racial bias is acceptable while Christian
religious bias is not I have encountered more barriers in aca-
demia because of my faith than because of my race
Such experiences and my observation of social events convinced
me of the importance of studying hostility toward Christians My
previous work on the dynamics of racial intergroup conflict helped
me to understand issues of prejudice stereotyping bigotry and
hatred in this religious context I saw similar but not identical dy-
namics in anti-Christian hostility While I am convinced that the
Lord used me in my previous racial research to help address im-
portant racial issues he also used my time dealing with racial issuesto prepare me for understanding anti-Christian animosity
Over the past few years I have learned a lot about anti-
Christian animosity First I conducted research on social and
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Introduction
religious bias in academia I learned that evangelicals and fun-
damentalists are the groups most likely to face negative bias by
academics5 Unlike previous work on academic bias my work
was systematic and not anecdotal I found that almost half of all
academics were less willing to hire a candidate for an academic
job if they learned that the person was a conservative Prot-
estant6 Tat work provided evidence of the anti-Christian bias
prevalent throughout the academic community o look at po-
tential anti-Christian attitudes outside of academia I used data
from a national survey to document the extent of antifundamen-
talist hostility in the United States In a research article I showed
that this hostility at least matches the level of anti-Muslim hos-
tility or Islamophobia in our society7 In another book I tested
a theorymdashRight-wing authoritarianismmdashthat argued that vin-
dictiveness and hostility toward out-groups are much moreprevalent among religious and political conservatives than
among religious and political progressives I demonstrated that
religious and political progressives do possess vindictiveness
and hostility when asked about conservative Christians8
Finally I wanted to know what Christianophobia looks like
Te research I did on culturally progressive activists provided
several clues about the nature of Christianophobia in our society
I analyzed those answers and used a probability sample to doc-
ument the characteristics of those who have Christianophobia
My coauthored book provides solid analyses of the perception
individuals with Christianophobia have of Christians how they
dehumanize Christians and what they want in our society9 Te
responses from the national survey that is the basis for So ManyChristians replicated my earlier finding that conservative Chris-
tians face more animosity in society than any religious groups
other than atheists Tose with this animosity are more likely to
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
A few years ago I felt a call to change the direction of my re-
search Tere are a variety of issues that led to this shift but one
was my observation of anti-Christian perspectives I noticed these
attitudes in the reporting of local and national events though that
alone would not have motivated me to study anti-Christian ani-
mosity I also saw evidence of anti-Christian attitudes in how
some academics reacted to my faith For example when I was an
adjunct professor I was assigned to four classes in a semester One
class was sociology of race and ethnicity one was sociology of
religion and the other two were introduction to sociology courses
Soon thereafter I learned that some faculty had misgivings about
my ability to teach the religion class because I was a Christian
Tey feared that I would be biased However the fact that I am an
African American did not create any fear about my bias in teaching
the race and ethnicity course While all professors bring somedegree of bias into their teaching (an atheist certainly brings bias
to a sociology of religion course) the comments of these pro-
fessors indicated that black racial bias is acceptable while Christian
religious bias is not I have encountered more barriers in aca-
demia because of my faith than because of my race
Such experiences and my observation of social events convinced
me of the importance of studying hostility toward Christians My
previous work on the dynamics of racial intergroup conflict helped
me to understand issues of prejudice stereotyping bigotry and
hatred in this religious context I saw similar but not identical dy-
namics in anti-Christian hostility While I am convinced that the
Lord used me in my previous racial research to help address im-
portant racial issues he also used my time dealing with racial issuesto prepare me for understanding anti-Christian animosity
Over the past few years I have learned a lot about anti-
Christian animosity First I conducted research on social and
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Introduction
religious bias in academia I learned that evangelicals and fun-
damentalists are the groups most likely to face negative bias by
academics5 Unlike previous work on academic bias my work
was systematic and not anecdotal I found that almost half of all
academics were less willing to hire a candidate for an academic
job if they learned that the person was a conservative Prot-
estant6 Tat work provided evidence of the anti-Christian bias
prevalent throughout the academic community o look at po-
tential anti-Christian attitudes outside of academia I used data
from a national survey to document the extent of antifundamen-
talist hostility in the United States In a research article I showed
that this hostility at least matches the level of anti-Muslim hos-
tility or Islamophobia in our society7 In another book I tested
a theorymdashRight-wing authoritarianismmdashthat argued that vin-
dictiveness and hostility toward out-groups are much moreprevalent among religious and political conservatives than
among religious and political progressives I demonstrated that
religious and political progressives do possess vindictiveness
and hostility when asked about conservative Christians8
Finally I wanted to know what Christianophobia looks like
Te research I did on culturally progressive activists provided
several clues about the nature of Christianophobia in our society
I analyzed those answers and used a probability sample to doc-
ument the characteristics of those who have Christianophobia
My coauthored book provides solid analyses of the perception
individuals with Christianophobia have of Christians how they
dehumanize Christians and what they want in our society9 Te
responses from the national survey that is the basis for So ManyChristians replicated my earlier finding that conservative Chris-
tians face more animosity in society than any religious groups
other than atheists Tose with this animosity are more likely to
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
religious bias in academia I learned that evangelicals and fun-
damentalists are the groups most likely to face negative bias by
academics5 Unlike previous work on academic bias my work
was systematic and not anecdotal I found that almost half of all
academics were less willing to hire a candidate for an academic
job if they learned that the person was a conservative Prot-
estant6 Tat work provided evidence of the anti-Christian bias
prevalent throughout the academic community o look at po-
tential anti-Christian attitudes outside of academia I used data
from a national survey to document the extent of antifundamen-
talist hostility in the United States In a research article I showed
that this hostility at least matches the level of anti-Muslim hos-
tility or Islamophobia in our society7 In another book I tested
a theorymdashRight-wing authoritarianismmdashthat argued that vin-
dictiveness and hostility toward out-groups are much moreprevalent among religious and political conservatives than
among religious and political progressives I demonstrated that
religious and political progressives do possess vindictiveness
and hostility when asked about conservative Christians8
Finally I wanted to know what Christianophobia looks like
Te research I did on culturally progressive activists provided
several clues about the nature of Christianophobia in our society
I analyzed those answers and used a probability sample to doc-
ument the characteristics of those who have Christianophobia
My coauthored book provides solid analyses of the perception
individuals with Christianophobia have of Christians how they
dehumanize Christians and what they want in our society9 Te
responses from the national survey that is the basis for So ManyChristians replicated my earlier finding that conservative Chris-
tians face more animosity in society than any religious groups
other than atheists Tose with this animosity are more likely to
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1124
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
be white wealthy and educated and thus have relative power in
our society
Troughout this book I will refer to respondentsrsquo comments
collected from my research for books on cultural progressive ac-
tivists and on Christianophobia If you are interested in the meth-
odology used to find respondents see the appendix or pick up one
or both books that used this methodology10 Quotations from our
respondents combined with an analysis of current events will
help to illustrate the mindset of those with Christianophobia
DEFINING CHRISTIANOPHOBIA
Te term Christianophobia is controversial Some individuals
may see those who use the term as a bunch of Christians whining
about not getting their way Te actions of some Christians
justify this contempt But hatred and fear of Christians are pheno- mena with real consequences even in a democracy such as ours
As I considered how to label this phenomenon I decided that
Christianophobia is the best term devised to date to describe
much of the anti-Christian perspective in the United States
Tis is not a word that I made up Christianophobia is defined
by Macmillan Dictionary as ldquoan irrational animosity towards or
hatred of Christians or Christianity in generalrdquo In this sense it
is not unlike the way we use Islamophobia or homophobia in
that we are not addressing simply fear of a group of individuals
we are referring to the negative emotions directed at those indi-
viduals While it is inaccurate to make the assumption that
Christianophobia is exactly like other types of intolerances the
basic concept that certain individuals target a given group withhatred and negativity is fairly similar in this definition of Chris-
tianophobia Tus the Macmillan definition is the one to keep
in mind as I discuss this concept
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1524
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1624
Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1724
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1224
Introduction
I anticipate that some will argue that Christianophobia is
either a myth or that it really does not matter ldquoWhere is the
evidence that Christians are put at a disadvantage in our society
due to Christianophobiardquo they may ask Consider the fact that
my research as well as other research11 indicates that there is a
notable anti-Christian bias in academia Tis bias means that
one should not expect the level of academic documentation of
anti-Christian prejudice that we would expect for other types of
prejudice It is realistic to assert that Christians likely face prej-
udice in institutions other than academia institutions that also
have highly educated and culturally progressive individuals and
that a lack of curiosity about such religious prejudice among
academics keeps it hidden from the general public
Letrsquos play a thought experiment If there were research showing
that almost half of all academics are less willing to give a persona job simply because that person is Jewish then would we say that
anti-Semitism impacts the lives of Jews in our society After all
they would face an unfair barrier to academia which is an im-
portant source of culture creation What if those who hate Jews
are more likely to be wealthy and well educated Would we not
be concerned about how such individuals would express ani-
mosity toward Jews We know these things about Christiano-
phobia despite the anti-Christian academic bias that discourages
such research and so it is hard to argue that Christianophobia
has no effect on Christians As I will discuss later it is a mistake
to argue that Christianophobia is exactly like anti-Semitism or
racism but if we had the evidence of educational prejudice
toward Christians for another racial or religious group then fewif any people would argue that such prejudice does not matter
Even such evidence will not be enough to convince some indi-
viduals that Christianophobia is a problem Tey will require a
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1424
Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1524
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1624
Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1724
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1824
Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1924
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
level of proof I cannot supply Beyond a few exceptional cases I
cannot absolutely prove that Christians are unfairly treated In
contemporary society such proof is indeed difficult to obtain but
not just for conservative Christians oday scholars of racial at-
titudes talk of microaggressions12 and subtle forms of racism13 at
least in part because surveys no longer reveal large percentages
of people who directly insult or show a willingness to explicitly
discriminate against African Americans o a lesser degree the
same can probably be said of sexism and homophobia although
I do not have the expertise in those areas to definitively make that
statement We do not demand absolute proof of overt systematic
discrimination based on race sex sexual preference or minority
religious status before addressing potential prejudices Tose
who demand such a criterion for Christians but no other social
groups need to explain why such a double standard is acceptableNot all Christians are equally likely to be victimized by Chris-
tianophobia Christians who do not challenge the ideals of those
with Christianophobia are less likely to experience this hatred
and prejudice Generally theologically or politically conser-
vative Christians who do challenge progressive social and poli-
tical attitudes are the ones who draw the ire of those with anti-
Christian hostility Tere are aspects of Christianophobia that
may also threaten progressive Christians and this seems espe-
cially the case in other countries14 However for the most part
it is the irrational hatred and fear directed toward conservative
Christians that we observe in the United States
WHY HAS CHRISTIANOPHOBIA BEEN IGNORED
Many Christians believe they have experienced animosity or dis-
crimination because of their faith Given my research I cannot
deny that they are right Yet there is little talk about Christiano-
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Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2124
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2224
Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1424
Introduction
phobia in the larger society Why is that
A large part of the silence on Christianophobia results from a
lack of academic analysis of this phenomenon Christianity is
what we sociologists call a majority religion It is the most popular
and powerful religion in the United States Generally scholars do
not concern themselves with prejudice experienced by those in
the majority group For example in the United States men gen-
erally have more power than women and whites generally have
more power than people of color Consequently there is not a lot
of academic research lamenting prejudice and discrimination
against men and whites Tis is not to say that prejudice and
discrimination against whites and men are nonexistent However
as a group both whites and men are quite powerful and isolated
instances of prejudice and discrimination do not eliminate the
general gender or racial advantages they possessBut can the same thing be said about Christians It is true that
Christians while suffering from isolated instances of prejudice
and discrimination also maintain a certain power advantage
over other religious groups However this is not nearly as uni-
versally true as it is for whites and men In key areas of our so-
ciety Christians are at a disadvantage simply because they are
Christians I alluded to this with my discussion above regarding
the Christian disadvantage in academia An overwhelming ma-
jority of the respondents from some disciplines such as anthro-
pology and English literature stated a willingness to religiously
discriminate15 We are not talking about an isolated bigot or two
We are talking about a substantial percentage of individuals in
our institutions of higher education Tus higher education andscience highly regarded segments of our society are commu-
nities where Christians do not enjoy the privileges of the ma-
jority and in fact operate at a disadvantage compared to those
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1524
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1724
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1824
Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1924
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2024
Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2124
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2224
Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1524
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1624
Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1724
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1824
Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1924
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2024
Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2124
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2224
Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1624
Introduction
common discourse with very little if any sanction
Even if the only social institution affected by Christianophobia
was our higher educational system we would have a serious
problem Powerful individuals are influenced by higher edu-
cation and those individuals generally go on to legal business
and political careers that put them in a position to negatively
impact Christians So far as far as I know higher education is the
only institution where systematic anti-Christian bias has been
documented But I suspect that other institutions with a higher
than normal percentage of cultural progressives such as media
entertainment and institutions of primary and secondary edu-
cation may also be susceptible to Christianophobia
In my academic research on Christianophobia I noted pat-
terns of bigotry hatred prejudice stereotyping and dehuman-
ization Some of the respondents characterized Christians as atype of aliban and asserted that without opposition to Chris-
tians our nation would soon become a theocracy Tese respon-
dents generally did not support direct measures against Chris-
tians but seemed delighted at the prospect of finding ways to
hinder conservative Christians For example note these respon-
dentsrsquo remarks
Te only difference I see between [a] Christian fundamen-
talist and [an] Islamic fundamentalist is terrorism At their
heart both movements are attempts to replace their coun-
tryrsquos government with theocracies Religion in the political
arena is dangerous to freedom and should be not allowed
Even minor intrusions such as allowing religious groups to
distribute public funds to the poor should not be allowed
(male age -)
Te Christian Rightrsquos influence in our government is as
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1724
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1824
Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1924
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2024
Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2124
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2224
Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1724
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dangerous as the aliban in Afghanistan or the ayatollahs
in Iran We cannot allow them to get a solid foothold in our
government Te only way to do this without infringing on
rights is to be especially vigilant and point out their bigotry
and hypocrisy often and loudly so as to discredit them in
the eyes of their followers and more importantly the eyes
of the voting populace (female age -)
Tese individuals would likely deny that their comments areintolerant but clearly they exhibit the unreasonable disdain and
fear associated with other types of intolerances Christiano-
phobia can lead to discrimination against Christians as shown
in my previous work on the potential of anti-Christian academic
discrimination but it can also display the type of emotional
animosity found in other types of intolerant attitudes Tere is
little reason to believe that only academics are perpetrators of
anti-Christian prejudice
CHRISTIANOPH OBIA RACISM ANTI-SEMITI SM AND SUCH
Since I stated that my studies of racial issues have helped me to
understand Christianophobia one might naturally wonder if I
am arguing that Christianophobia is the same thing as racism Iam not o be sure I do see some similarities between Chris-
tianophobia and racism Demonizing others stereotyping fear
and hatred are quite common with both types of social dys-
function However racism is tied to the notion that certain racial
groups are biologically inferior Furthermore racial minority
groups are more likely to suffer economically because of racism
than Christians are because of Christianophobia In addition to
the economic costs racism is more likely to lead to violence than
is Christianophobia So while there are some similarities be-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1924
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2024
Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2124
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2224
Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1824
Introduction
tween animosity based on race and that based on religion the
differences between these types of animosity are profound
A better comparison may be between Christianophobia and
anti-Semitism Previous work on anti-Semitism has shown that
those with this type of bigotry fear Jews taking over our society18
Many anti-Semites have cited a discredited document called Te
Protocols of the Elders of Zion which claimed that a secret Jewish
plot existed with the aim of undermining Christian civilization
Several of the respondents to our surveys also talked about a
stealthy Christian plot that they feared would undermine their
vision of a progressive humanist society For example a female
age - stated that ldquoitrsquos pretty troubling to me what theyrsquore
doing how sneaky they are how they project their negativity onto
others mostly how they are trying to and succeeding take
over our public education systemrdquo Another female age -stated that Christians are ldquodangerousmdashattending law school so
they can infiltrate government and take over our countryrdquo
Fears of a societal and possibly governmental takeover mo-
tivate individuals to support attempts to limit the hated religious
group In both anti-Semitism and Christianophobia we find
abundant stereotyping hatred and prejudice based on often inac-
curate interpretations of the religious actions of members vic-
timized by anti-Semitism and Christianophobia Anti-Semitism
has a longer history and seems more likely to lead to violence than
Christianophobia may but my recent research19 shows far more
anti-Christian animosity in contemporary society than anti-
Semitism Since those with anti-Christian bias are more likely to
be white wealthy and well educated Christianophobia is likely tomotivate individuals with more social power than those motivated
by other types of prejudice (ie racism sexism Islamophobia)
Christianophobia has qualities similar to other types of prej-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 1924
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2024
Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2124
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2224
Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
udice but it also has distinctive characteristics We can compare
Christianophobia to other types of intolerance to better under-
stand it but we make a mistake if we see Christianophobia as
identical to these others For example despite spending a good
deal of time studying this type of intolerance I have seen few ex-
amples of physical violence aimed at Christians in the United
States Christians rarely have to worry about being physically
abused because of their faith which may not be the case for
Muslims On the other hand those who tend to have Christiano-
phobia are in a better position to punish Christians in nonviolent
ways because they possess more social power than those who
tend to exhibit overt racism Islamophobia or homophobia For
example some colleges have driven conservative Christian
student groups off campus with policies requiring those groups
to open up their leadership to non-Christians It is a policy that istechnically ldquoneutralrdquo but one with a strong disparate impact on
conservative Christian groups20 Christianophobia is a social
problem both worse than and better than other types of intol-
erance depending upon what sort of negative impacts we examine
A QUICK ASIDE ON HOMOSEXUALITY
One of the huge issues that comes up when dealing with anti-
Christian animosity is homosexuality It was an issue some respon-
dents brought up as a reason for hating conservative Christians
Over thirty percent of our respondents in the qualitative sample
mention issues of homosexuality at some point in their responses21
Tis is quite high for open-ended questions in which the respon-
dents were not prompted to think about homosexuality Fur-thermore I cannot remember a single time in which the respondent
wrote about homosexuality and did not link it to condemnation of
Christians or the Christian Right o argue that homosexuality is
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
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892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
the major issue driving Christianophobia goes too far but it is a
major issue brought up by many with anti-Christian disdain
In my personal experience I have found homosexuality to be
difficult to discuss Emotions on both sides of the issue easily
become inflamed and rational discourse becomes impossible
Te issue is more complex and nuanced than one would expect
given the types of sound bites and spins that so often come up
when the discussion turns to homosexuality I originally wrote a
chapter for this book in an attempt to deal with those nuances and
to consider how Christians may be able to find a way forward
However I have decided not to include the chapter in this
book First I am not certain that even a chapter-long treatment
of this subject would suffice Such a subject may take a book-
length treatment and I do not possess the expertise in this
subject today to write such a book Tere are simply too manytwists and turns in this subject for it to be easily dealt with in the
few pages of a chapter Second I fear that my chapter on homo-
sexuality would attract a disproportionate amount of attention
given its controversial nature Many times when individuals
make a statement about homosexuality that statement is taken
out of context in an effort to smear the other assertions made by
that person Tis book will be controversial enough without me
walking into that minefield
Te focus of this book is Christianophobia and how Chris-
tians need to deal with it It is a critically important topic that
deserves our full attention My goal is to point out the reality of
this phenomenon to Christians and help them to think about
how to adjust to it If I accomplish this then the book will be asuccess Perhaps at some point in the future if I feel it to be ap-
propriate I may write about some of my ideas concerning homo-
sexuality But this is not the right time for that discussion
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2124
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
TWO WRONG APPROACHES TO CHRISTIANOPHOBI A
I am not the first person to claim that Christians are unfairlytreated in our society but I have seen the Christian community
respond ineffectively to the claims of anti-Christian bigotry
Perhaps much of the Christian reaction toward real episodes of
Christianophobia has been ineffective because Christians in the
United States are not used to dealing with anti-Christian prej-
udice and discrimination I find two different types of errors
Christians have made in their responses to prejudice
Te first mistake comes from Christians who exaggerate and
make claims of persecution Tese Christians (who generally
are more conservative in their politics and theology and thus
more likely to experience Christianophobia) immediately re-
spond to episodes of anti-Christian bias with accusations of
persecution Pretty soon almost everything these Christians donot like in our society prompts a claim of persecution I have
seen a similar tendency among some African Americans It has
been called ldquoplaying the race cardrdquo the willingness of some
blacks to make unwarranted accusations of racism I speculate
that they do this because it is easier to make claims of racism
than to deal honestly with the situation at hand For exampleaccusing a teacher of racism might appear to be an easier path
to a good grade in class than actually studying I am sure that
sometimes these tactics have worked and blacks who used
them gained what they desired However I suspect that most
people see these manipulative tactics for what they are Respect
for real racism is quickly lost and crying wolf hinders our
ability to deal with racism In a similar way blowing incidents
out of proportion and making wild accusations of persecution
impede our ability to counter Christianophobia We must be
measured in our responses and work toward gaining accep-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
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Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2224
Introduction
tance with real assessments rather than seek out the temporary
gains we may obtain with polemical accusations
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the second erroneous
approach some Christians make which is to minimize or even
ignore Christianophobia Tese Christians (who generally are
more liberal in their politics and theology and thus less likely to
experience Christianophobia) often sound like Christiano-
phobic individuals themselves as they argue that Christians who
complain about discrimination are more interested in claiming
victimhood than addressing real discrimination Given the exis-
tence of Christians who cry ldquopersecutionrdquo there is some basis
for this argument But totally ignoring the reality of Christiano-
phobia is just as senseless as elevating instances of Christiano-
phobia into accusations of persecution Some Christians ac-
knowledge these problems but take seriously Christrsquos call to turnthe other cheek Even if Christians do experience prejudice and
discrimination is it not right to simply endure it Clearly there
are times when we should die to ourselves and endure injustice
Christians should not focus on claiming their every right but
the biblical interpretation that we never advocate for ourselves
is incomplete Paul did not hesitate to use his right as a Roman
citizen to appeal his unjust treatment (Acts ) Claiming the
rights of that citizenship allowed him more opportunities to
spread the gospel A one-size-fits-all approach by which Chris-
tians consistently refuse to assert any rights is not in keeping
with a holistic interpretation of Scripture22 A better approach
is to look for principles that guide us in determining when we
should assert our rights and when we should turn our cheeksIn the following chapters I will address both approaches in
more detail We must both confront Christianophobia and ad-
dress real problems in the Christian community We cannot ad-
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2324
HOSILE ENVIRONMEN
dress Christianophobia and totally ignore the dysfunctions we
unfortunately have allowed to flourish within the church But we
must take proactive steps to confront Christianophobia and rec-
ognize it for the evil that it is We need an approach that does
not go to the extremes of either making wild accusations of per-
secution or ignoring the malevolence of Christianophobia I
hope that this book starts a larger dialogue in the body of Christ
about how to address this social dysfunction
In the end part of the rise in overt Christianophobia is linked
to changing social reality In the past Christians had a degree of
cultural dominance that not only allowed them to protect them-
selves from those with anti-Christian animosity but also provided
power that was sometimes misused against non-Christians Some
though not all Christianophobia arose because of this misuse of
societal power oday we have become a multicultural society inwhich the cultural dominance of Christians has dramatically
fallen It is irrelevant whether we approve of this social change it
is a reality we have to deal with Christians should not expect to
regain cultural dominance in the near future and attempts to
assert their status as the majority group are likely to engender
more anger than support However Christians do have the right
to maintain their place in the cultural discussion a place that is
currently threatened by Christianophobia Making the transition
from being the dominant religious group to a religious group that
wishes to maintain its voice and its cultural boundaries among
other cultural and religious groups is the challenge for Christians
in the twenty-first century Both recognizing Christiansrsquo own
failings and confronting Christianophobia are important parts ofmaking that transition Tis book offers insight and initial
thoughts about how to accomplish that task
Copyrighted Material wwwivpresscompermissions
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424
892019 Hostile Environment By George Yancey - EXCERPT
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhostile-environment-by-george-yancey-excerpt 2424