Despite the general sense that we live in an age of enlightenment, religious hostility was actually found to be on the rise in 2014. While one might be tempted to generalize that this statistic is due to global factors such as ISIS growing in displays of religious terrorism, the study was not conducted worldwide. Rather, it was based in America, the country founded on the principle of religious freedom.
Since 2012, the Liberty Institute has been tracking court cases, news stories, and additional reports to document the state of religious hostility events in the United States of America, and publishing an annual report available to the public. It was unclear whether the report considered hostile events to be those targeted at expression of any faith, or specifically conservative Christian faith.
The report, released in February, called Undeniable: The Survey of Hostility to Religion in America: 2014 Edition, analyzed data in four categories: Public Arena, Schoolhouses, Churches, and Military. Survey analysts found that in comparison to the first report three years ago, hostile events were up 133% and included growth in all four categories. One example given from the military category was of a US Air Force Academy cadet who was required to remove a Scripture quote from his personal noteboard after other cadets in the class complained.
DOES THIS STUDY JUST UNDERLINE THAT THE US HAS TRULY BECOME A MELTING POT?
This survey provides an important piece of evidence to digest, as it shows a growing trend of carefully marginalizing conservative Christians. It may be justifiable to argue that this group has had the most advantage for hundreds of years, and therefore the time has come to allow people of other religious groups–and no religious group–an equal playing field. But the equalizing of that playing field needs to come in a way that still protects the rights of conservative Christians. While many cases resolved in favor of the religious side of the claim, the increase in cases represents a continued and increasing pressure being placed on Christians to restrict all expression of their faith.
George Yancey is a sociology professor at the University of North Texas, and author of So Many Christians, So Few Lions: Is There Christianophobia in the United States? He contends that those who say they are working toward religious neutrality in the US are able to hide their Christianophobia by advocating for changes that benefit the nonreligious yet have a noted negative effect on the exercise of a Christian faith.
For example, Yancey cites a growing number of higher education institutions that require religious organizations to be open to people of all faiths. “In theory, this is religiously neutral but in practice it punishes religious groups that take seriously the tenets of their faith,” he said. “So those with Christianophobic tendencies can hide their possible bigotry with measures that punish Christians but ones for which they can also find nonreligious justification.”
BUT HOW DO THE VARIOUS RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN AMERICA RESPOND TO ONE ANOTHER?
An important counterpoint to this study is last year’s Pew Forum survey on “How Americans Feel About Religious Groups.” In that study, respondents were asked to rate various religious groups by placing them on a “feelings thermometer” that measured from coldest at 0 to warmest at 100. Jews, Evangelical Christians and Catholics were all placed in the warmest part of the thermometer at about 60%, while atheists and Muslims were placed in the coldest part of the thermometer at about the 40% mark.
So while it may indeed be true that hostility against Christians is on the rise in America, it is likely also true that hostility against atheists and Muslims is just as real–and probably even more longstanding. Perhaps one effective response for conservative Christians, those feeling hemmed in by the rising restraints being placed on them, is to join with members of other faiths in advocating for true religious freedom for all.