* Part of an email I sent to fellow Christian professors.
For your consideration....
I was looking again at an article by Baylor sociologist, George Yancey, "How Academics View Conservative Protestants" Sociology of Religion (June 2015). Yancey's specialization (one among many) is the anti-conservative Christian bias found in the educational arena. Here are a few quotations from the essay:
- "A sizable body of research has demonstrated an anti-conservative Christian perspective among academics." (First sentence of essay)
- "Professors in universities and colleges rate political conservatives negatively, and religious conservatives--particularly conservative Protestants like evangelicals and fundamentalists--even more negatively. For example, Tobin and Weinberg's (2007) survey of 1,200 college professors found that 53% admitted negative feelings about evangelicals. Yancey (2011) found that about 40% of professors surveyed said that they would be less likely to hire a prospective employee for their department if that candidate was an evangelical, and about 50% would be less likely to hire a prospective employee if the candidate is a fundamentalist. This negative bias has ramifications. One study indicates that conservative Protestant students claim everyday experiences of discrimination in academia similar to the levels of discrimination reported by traditionally targeted groups, like women and blacks (Hyers 2008). Other research shows that this antipathy affects hiring decisions (Yancey 2011) and graduate school admission (Gunn and Zenner Jr. 1996)." (p. 2--note my page numbers are from a pre-print version)
- "We argue that there are two possible reasons for the rejection of conservative Protestants by academics: symbolic boundaries and lack of contact." (p. 2)
- "This propensity to envision themselves [the progressive critics of conservative Christians] in a culture war helps explain some of our respondents' critique of evangelicals proselytizing. This proselytizing may be a threat to these scholars since religious conversion may generate more opponents to their political and social goals. Thus it is not surprising that several respondents make negative comments about the evangelical desire to convert others... (p. 13)
- "Certain respondents view conservative Protestants as a threat to societal well-being... They fear that evangelicals will win support for an agenda these academics perceive as dangerous." (p. 13)
- "Academics are unlikely to personally identify with conservative Protestants or have many conservative Protestant friends. This may lead to an ignorance of conservative Protestants that feeds into negative stereotypes toward that out-group. Those with closer ties to conservative Protestants gave the most academic definitions and also have the most positive attitudes toward conservative Protestants." (p. 17)
- "Conservative Protestants are disliked to the degree that they are perceived as oppressors both now and in the past which helps explain why evangelicals are rated lower by academics than other proselytizing groups, like Muslims (Tobin and Weinberg 2007; Yancey 2011)." (p. 17)
- Yancey speaks of a "silencing effect which keeps conservative Protestants 'in the closet.'" (p. 18)
- The final paragraph of the article (and this, if I may interject, may be where the "money is" for us in terms of practical application):
- "This silence reduces the potential of conservative Protestant academics to use intergroup contact to challenge common religious stereotypes in academia. The detached, guarded manner in which they discuss their religious beliefs may create social comfort for other academics, but also helps those scholars maintain symbolic barriers toward conservative Protestants. Thus, even when conservative Protestant academics act in ways that defy anti-religious stereotypes, their hesitation to openly embrace a conservative Protestant identity makes it harder for other academics to tie those actions to conservative Protestantism, which might create a cognitive dissonance about that stereotype. Conservative Protestant academics' strategy for dealing with possible stigmatization may unintentionally reinforce a social atmosphere that perpetuates academic marginalization of conservative Protestantism." (p. 19)
I post these quotations, not to create a sense of fear, but, rather, to move us to greater boldness in expressing ourselves and our academic work as explicitly Christian. This obviously requires wisdom and winsomeness but failure to do this ("openly embrace a conservative Protestant identity") may actually backfire and create a more negative effect in the long run (according to Yancey). This is to start a conversation among us--not dictate a set of rules. Toward that end, here are a few questions to ponder--and hopefully, we can ponder them together! (Feel free to respond in this email thread)
- Have you seen an anti-conservative Christian bias in your department or career?
- In what ways (if any) do you see or sense your campus to have an environment which stigmatizes Christianity (or versions of Christianity)?
- Have you ever self-censored your Christian identity at your campus out of a sense of fear?
- In what ways could you manifest a greater boldness in self-consciously living out your Christian identity on your campus--before students, fellow faculty, and administration?
