Reported Experiences of Anti-Christian Prejudice among Christian Adolescents in England

Abstract

Christians’ experiences of anti-Christian prejudice are relatively unexplored in sociological research. This article analyses perceived anti-Christian prejudice reported by Christian adolescents in England. Rich interview data were collected regarding Anglican, Baptist, and Catholic adolescents (N=26) over a five-month period in churches and church youth groups in an English city. The young people reported incidents of anti-Christian name-calling (slurs), bullying, labelling, and aggressive questioning about their faith by non-Christian peers, indicating that anti-Christian prejudice may affect the status of Christians in adolescent peer-group hierarchies. They also perceived formal aspects of schooling to be biased against Christian beliefs and practices. These episodes suggest that, like prejudice against other religious groupings, anti-Christian prejudice has historical negative tropes and stereotypes based upon perceived inferiority. However, unlike other kinds of religious prejudice, the analyses also suggest that anti-Christian prejudice may sometimes be related to philosophical objections to religious beliefs rather than perceived negative racial or ethnic attributes. These findings are discussed with reference to the debate about secularisation.

Keywords:

• Religious
• anti-Christian
• prejudice
• adolescents
• atheism
• secularisation
• England

Acknowledgements

This article reports the findings of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded DPhil study conducted at the Department of Education of Oxford University (2009–2013). I would like to thank Ingrid Lunt, Nigel Fancourt, the Philosophy, Religion and Education Forum at Oxford, and six anonymous reviewers for their comments and guidance.

Notes

1. ‘Southville’, church, and participants’ names are pseudonyms to ensure anonymity and confidentiality (BERA). Given the size of the city and the few churches there, giving the city’s name would enable the identification of the congregations and therefore potentially the individual participants.

2. The Evangelical Alliance is a well-established umbrella body that represents over 70 denominations and two million evangelical Christians in the UK (Evangelical Alliance).