In the last few years, a new word has crept into our vocabulary: Christianophobia. As far as I can tell, the word is being used to refer to two different, though related, phenomena. The first is the anxiety and antipathy that traditional Christianity creates in cultural and intellectual institutions in the West: academia, journalism, publishing, the entertainment industry. I believe this is the “Christianophobia” to which Pope Benedict refers, for example, when he decries the growing “hostility and prejudice” against Christianity in Europe.
I’m not sure that “Christianophobia” is the right word to use in this context. The hostility to Christianity one encounters in the West is mostly ideological. What we have is a struggle between competing worldviews, one of which seeks to win by excluding the other, which it sees as irrational, from public debate. This strategy is illiberal, ill-informed, and childish, but it is not really “phobic” in the way we normally use that term. It reflects not so much a visceral antipathy to Christians as people as a desire for Christians to keep quiet and stop retarding social progress.
Now, things may be changing. When critics denounce Christians as “bigots” — for maintaining the traditional understanding of marriage, for example — that does imply a personal judgment. Bigots are bad people; you wouldn’t want them living next door to you or building a gathering place in your neighborhood. You wouldn’t want your children to associate with them. Maybe the ideological struggle in the West is becoming a personal one, in which Christians are seen as comparable to racists. I don’t think we’re there, yet, but I concede there’s evidence we may be heading that way.
The second sort of “Christianophobia” is that which exists in many parts of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. This is a qualitatively different thing. In countries like Egypt, Mali, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria, Christians are being murdered and forced to leave their homes in large numbers. Churches are being destroyed and Christian villages emptied. “Phobia” certainly describes this phenomenon. If anything, “phobia” is too mild a term: what we are seeing in these places is the widespread persecution of Christians. Indeed, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week, Christianity is “the most persecuted religion” in the world today.
How are these phenomena related? Even though the West is, slowly, recognizing the disaster befalling Christians in other parts of the world, it often seems reluctant to address the problem. I have to think that this reluctance results in part from a psychological disconnect. Western liberals who support global human rights are not accustomed to seeing Christians as sympathetic victims. Quite the contrary: they are accustomed to seeing Christians as adversaries to be resisted. It’s not clear how much the West can do to help suffering Christians in other parts of the world, of course, except by offering them asylum. Until attitudes change, however, it’s going to be difficult even to get the subject on the agenda.
Mark Movsesian is Director of the Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s University.
November 13th, 2012 | 1:03 am
[...] Christianophobia – Mark Movsesian, First Things/First Thoughts [...]
November 13th, 2012 | 6:52 am
Some Bob Dylan lyrics from his song “I Dreamt I Saw St. Augustine” seem applicable: “No martyr now is among you that you can call your own.” This has never been true globally of Christianity. Like you said, there is a disconnect with Western liberals regarding persecution of Christians. When Christians refer to these things in the USA they are often treated with scorn and as if they are whining like the abominable Christian character in There Will Be Blood. There is a scaffolding of permission-giving beliefs for violence and marginalization which it seems some are diligently working to erect. This is especially true about Christians but also more broadly as well about those identified as religious in modern perceptions.
November 13th, 2012 | 8:28 am
[...] MORNING GOD & CAESAR EDITION Published November 13, 2012 Anno Domini Christianophobia – Mark Movsesian, First [...]
November 13th, 2012 | 9:32 am
I wonder whether the difference in these two kinds of Christianophobia are merely one of degree. The Western world has legal structures that prevent Christians from being murdered or driven out of our homes. That’s a different question than whether there are some in the West who would like to see it happen. From comboxes to personal life, I have seen enough examples of unremitting hatred of Christians on a personal level to think that there are some who would. Christians are not politely disagreed with; we are demonized on a daily basis by the culture makers. How long can you call a group the devil before people start to act on that? We already have an epidemic of burning and vandalizing of churches that is a true wave of hate crimes, even though the national media ignore it.
November 13th, 2012 | 11:18 am
“If anything, “phobia” is too mild a word: what we are seeing is the widespread persecution of Christians.”
How about using the word, “genocide.?”
November 13th, 2012 | 11:30 am
Not wanting laws based on specific religious doctrine isn’t quite the same thing as wanting to exclude a worldview from public debate.
A couple of points. Denouncing a particular Christian as a ‘bigot’ isn’t the same as denouncing Christians as a class. And even not wanting someone “living next door to you or building a gathering place in your neighborhood” isn’t the same thing as trying to ban them from doing so.
November 13th, 2012 | 6:09 pm
Anti Christian jokes, mocking Hollywood scenes, and luchroom discussions between coworkers are very prevalent in the US. While so called progressive people are quick to condemn anyone as hateful if anything (whether factual or not) is said about their protected groups, it remains open season on authentic Christians. Don’t vote for these people, don’t buy their products, assert yourself
when it seems warranted. The greatest hurt for me is when former Christians are the ones spearheading this poison. Think how deflated people felt after the Crucifiction. However better days followed and will again.
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