White Evangelicals Believe They Face More Discrimination Than Muslims

[Heddi]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/perceptions-discrimination-muslims-christians/519135/

White Evangelicals Believe They Face More Discrimination Than Muslims
A new study suggests different groups of Americans see their country in radically divergent ways.

Overall, people were twice as likely to say Muslims face discrimination as they were to say the same thing about Christians. Democrats were four times more likely to see Muslim vs. Christian discrimination, and non-religious people more than three. White Catholics and white mainline Protestants were both in line with the American average: Each group was roughly twice as likely to say Muslims face discrimination compared to how they see the Christian experience.

The people who stuck out, whose perceptions were radically different from others in the survey, were white evangelical Protestants. Among this group, 57 percent said there’s a lot of discrimination against Christians in the U.S. today. Only 44 percent said the same thing about Muslims. They were the only religious group more likely to believe Christians face discrimination compared to Muslims.

Historical data suggests white evangelicals perceive even less discrimination against Muslims now than they did a few years ago—or before the election. When this question was asked in a December 2013 PRRI survey, 59 percent of white evangelicals said they think Muslims face a lot of discrimination. As late as last October, 56 percent said this was the case. As of February, that number had dropped by 12 percentage points. It’s possible that this finding is an anomaly—the sample size of white evangelicals in the February poll was smaller than in previous surveys—but it suggests a dramatic shift.
..
Other factors besides hate crimes and Trump’s policies have likely shaped white evangelicals’ perceptions. The questions about discrimination were included in a survey about LGBT issues, and for good reason: More than any other issue, changing cultural and legal norms around same-sex marriage and gender identity have raised objections from Christians. A number of court decisions from the last half decade or so may feed into white evangelicals’ perception that Christians face discrimination, including Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.

[Thomas Hurt]

1. Its hard out here for a Pimp....

1. around 70% of Americans are Christian of one flavor or another, that is 210,000,000 million
2. there are christian radio stations in every market in the US
https://tools.wmflabs.org/wp-world/googlmaps-proxy.php...
3. there are numerous christian publishing houses
4. there are christian book stores in the US
5. you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a church
6. this country has multi million dollar mega churches and legacy denominational churches and small mom and pop churches
7. this country has the huge Mormon church, which is christian no matter how much others protest that holds political and social sway over a whole state and parts of at least two others
8. and of course the catholic church, a powerhouse itself
9. there is fatih based initiatives office in the WH
10. Christians hold around 90% of seats in Congress
11. Christians have lobbyists in DC
12. Christian websites and apologetics are rife on the internet
13. Christian faiths of all kinds have tv shows on public access and cable networks
14. no christian is prevented from going to church
15. no one is making a christian get an abortion or use birth control
16. no one is making a christian marry someone of their same sex
17. the Congress has passed legislation to help protect, ostensibly all religions but they in practice protect christianity almost entirely.
18. There are thousands of private christian schools from kindergarten to universities in this country.
19. Christians are free to annoy others with their proselytizing
20. Christians are free to leave this country and annoy foreigners with their proselytizing
21. the are free to pray to themselves anytime
22. they are free to pray in public aloud as long as it is not sanctioned by the government
23. they are free to raise their children in their faith, they do not have let them watch worldly, tv or listen worldy music or go to secular schools etc.
24. churches don't have to pay taxes and yet receive the protection of our military and fire and police.

[trotsky]

3. Wow, it is truly incredible how rough Christians have it in this country.

Thank you for that list - and welcome to the DU Religion forum!

[Heddi]

5. Hi Thomas! Welcome to DU

Thanks for the reminder of how "persecuted" Christians are in this country

[littlemissmartypants]

6. -you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a church-

Ouch.

Welcome to DU.

[trotsky]

2. I can't laugh hard enough to give this the reaction it deserves.

Poor, put-upon Christians. Can't even say "Merry Christmas" to each other quietly in their own homes these days without the liberal atheist gestapo breaking down their door and hauling the entire family away to work in an abortion factory, or so I've heard.

[FiveGoodMen]

4. ...proving that they're the dumbest people on earth!

[Gothmog]

7. The level of denial evidenced by this polling is amazing

[Cartoonist]

8. Let me know

When a white evangelical gets shot just for being a white evangelical.

[Lordquinton]

9. Ohboyherewego.jpg

Christianity is based on persecution, the whole origin story of Jesus is one big torture porn story to make believers feel like they are persecuted, then they reinact it with every new people they meet.