Content deleted Content added
m →Overview: removed American specificity |
Mateoski06 (talk | contribs) Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit |
||
(43 intermediate revisions by 29 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{short description|
{{Globalize|article|USA|2name=the United States|date=March 2020}}
{{Discrimination sidebar|Related}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}{{Use American English|date=January 2024}}
'''Christian privilege''' is a social advantage that is bestowed upon [[Christians]] in any historically Christian society. This arises out of the presumption that [[Christianity|Christian belief]] is a [[social norm]], that leads to the [[marginalization]] of the [[nonreligious]] and members of other religions through institutional [[religious discrimination]] or [[religious persecution]]. Christian privilege can also lead to the neglect of outsiders' cultural heritage and religious practices.<ref name="Christian">{{cite journal |last=Blumenfeld |first=W. J. |year=2006 |title=Christian privilege and the promotion of "secular" and not-so "secular" mainline Christianity in public schooling and in the larger society |journal=Equity and Excellence in Education |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=195–210 |doi=10.1080/10665680600788024}}</ref>▼
▲'''Christian privilege''' is a social advantage
==Overview==
Line 9 ⟶ 11:
Lewis Z. Schlosser<ref name="Schlosser">{{cite journal |last=Schlosser |first=L. Z. |year=2003 |title=Christian privilege: Breaking a sacred taboo |journal=Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=44–51 |doi=10.1002/j.2161-1912.2003.tb00530.x}}</ref> observes that the exposure of Christian privilege breaks a "sacred taboo", and that "both subtle and obvious pressures exist to ensure that these privileges continue to be in the sole domain of Christians. This process is comparable to the way in which whites and males, [[White privilege|according to many]], continue to (consciously and unconsciously) ensure the privilege of their racial and gender groups".<ref name=" Schlosser"/>{{rp|p.47}}
In the United States, White mainstream [[Protestant]] denominations have greater degrees of privilege than minority Christian denominations. Such
When dominating groups within societies place Christian [[culture|cultural]] norms and perspectives on individuals holding differing viewpoints, those people are sometimes deemed, in social justice terms, to be oppressed.
==History==
[[Alexis de Tocqueville]] the French political scientist and diplomat, traveled across the United States for nine months between
Although de Tocqueville favored U.S. style democracy, he found its major limitation to be in its limiting of independent thought and independent beliefs. In a country that promoted the notion that the majority rules, this effectively silenced minorities by what Tocqueville termed the "[[tyranny of the majority]]".<ref name="Tocqueville" /> Without specific guarantees of minority rights—in this case minority religious rights—there is a danger of religious domination over religious minorities and non-believers.<ref name="Investigating" /> The religious majority in the U.S. has historically been adherents of mainline Protestant Christian denominations who often assume that their values and standard apply equally to others.
Line 23 ⟶ 25:
==Christian hegemony==
The concept of [[hegemony]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Gramsci |first=Antonio |year=1971 |title=Selections from the prison notebooks |others=Trans. Q. Hoare & G. N. Smith |location=New York |publisher=International}}</ref> describes the ways in which a dominant group, in this case mainly
The French philosopher, [[Michel Foucault]], described how a dominant-group's hegemony is advanced through "discourses".<ref name="Foucault">{{cite book |last=Foucault |first=Michel |year=1980 |title=The history of sexuality, Part 1 |location=New York |publisher=Vintage Books |others= Trans. R. Hurley}}</ref> Discourses include the ideas, written expressions, theoretical foundations, and language of the dominant culture. According to Foucault, dominant-group discourses pervade networks of social and political control, which he called "regimes of truth",<ref name="Foucault" />{{rp|p.133}} and which function to legitimize what can be said, who has the authority to speak and be heard, and what is authorized as true or as ''the'' truth.
Line 39 ⟶ 41:
==Criticism==
According to Schlosser,<ref name="Schlosser" /> many Christians reject the notion that they have any privilege by claiming that all religions are essentially the same. Thus, they have no more and no fewer benefits accorded to them than members of other faith communities. Blumenfeld<ref name=" Investigating" /> notes the objections that some of his university students raise when discussing Christian privilege as connected with the celebration of Christian holidays. The students, he notes, state that many of the celebrations and decorations have nothing to do with religion as such, and do not represent Christianity, but are rather part of American culture—however, this could be considered a further example of privilege.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
Scholars and jurists debate the exact scope of religious liberty protected by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]]. It is unclear whether the amendment requires religious minorities to be exempted from neutral laws and whether the Free Exercise Clause requires Congress to exempt religious pacifists from conscription into the military. At a minimum, it prohibits Congress from, in the words of James Madison, compelling "men to worship God in any manner contrary to their conscience".<ref>Dreisbach and Hall, Sacred Rights, p. 427.</ref>
==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*[[Christian persecution complex]]
*[[Critical theory]]
*[[Discrimination against atheists]]
*[[Glass ceiling]]
*[[History of Christian thought on persecution and tolerance]]
*[[Institutional racism]]
*[[Islamophobia]]
*[[
*[[Persecution of Christians]]
*[[Religious discrimination against Neopagans]]
*[[Reverse discrimination]]
Line 74 ⟶ 78:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian Privilege}}
[[Category:Christianity and society]]
[[Category:Critical theory]]
[[Category:Social privilege]]
|