Privilege and your experiences

Cadaverine — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 02:17:24 -0600

Not much time left now! ^_^ I'm actually asking for a future short story or possible novella I have hovering around my brain, rather than my current novel. An element of this story will involve social issues regarding religion. To this end, can you share instances of Christian privilege you have come across in your life? How did you react at the time? How did they make you feel? How would you react to the same situation if you had a second chance? If you are a Christian living in a country in which Christian privilege exists, how do you think about your privilege? Does it concern you? Would you rather live in a society with more Christian privilege, or less? Please add anything else you might think of; I'm interested in everyone's perspective. Thank you all for your input ^_^

Re: Privilege and your experiences

vampyre_smiles — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:34:24 -0600

Not a Christian, but I think people notice privilege more when they aren't part of the privileged group but they "seem" like they are. For example, I was working as a server at a diner for a while and some regular customers came in every Sunday after church. I did some particularly nice thing for the woman and she assumed I was a "Good Christian". I'm Shintoist, which most people haven't even heard of or only in reference to the Japanese in WW2. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to get into a religious debate. This was even in Sacramento, which is relatively accepting of non-Christian religions and atheism. But there is some definite assumptions that "good person" = "Christian" in America. Maybe not by all or even most people, but by enough people that it can be troubling when you aren't Christian yourself.

Re: Privilege and your experiences

Cadaverine — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:28:32 -0600

Sorry if I was unclear - my first set of questions are indeed aimed at non-Christians ^_^ Thanks for your input!

Re: Privilege and your experiences

serotonin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:24:07 -0600

I feel that the original post introduces the term "Christian privilege" as if everyone should know what it means. Linking to the word 'privilege' on Wikipedia doesn't lend any clarity to the combined term, in my opinion. If the term means, specifically, "tangible benefits that a person espousing a Christian faith receives from the State of the United States, that have no equivalent in that State for those who do not espouse a Christian faith" then the main one in America is: - Some of the State holidays correspond to Christian holy days If you expand the definition of faith from "Christian" to "Yaweh-worshiping" so as to include Judaism and Islam, the list grows longer. For example: - Your faith is among the choices for the mandatory designation of religion for purposes of last rites as military personnel - The slogans on the money don't offend your sensibilities If you expand the definition of privilege from State to include institutions and culture, the list also grows longer. However, there's nothing unique on that list; it's the same list that any minority group experiences within an insular super majority. If you expand the definition of State to include states that have a Christian religion as the official state religion, the list grows again - but in such cases, we must consider that only one, or a very small number, of literally thousands of Christian sects, has privileged status. The most relatable example might be Ireland: both Protestants and Catholics are Christians, but most would agree that one, or the other, sect experiences "privilege" depending on which Ireland we're discussing. The story idea sounds, overall, like it might be meant as a piece on morality. What point do you want to make? If you start with the point you want to make, you can very likely find the "facts" and case-studies to support it.

Re: Privilege and your experiences

cheyinka — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:03:32 -0600

As a Christian, I don't often have to explain my holy days, and when I do, the person to whom I'm explaining is unlikely to say, "Oh, like the Christian version of [some other religion's observance]?" For example, not everyone celebrates Christmas, but if I say I'm doing such-and-such a thing for Christmas, no one's going to ask what Christmas is. When I go off on my yearly rant about how much I resent and despise that in English the word used for the Sunday celebrating the feast of Christ's resurrection is "Easter", no one has ever asked me (and it's not likely that anyone will ever ask me) either what Easter is or who Christ is. If I say I'm fasting on Good Friday, on the other hand, it's reasonably likely that someone will ask me what Good Friday is, but very unlikely that, after my explanation, they'll say, "Oh, like a Christian version of Yom Kippur?" In fact, the only time I'm likely to hear "oh, like a Christian version of [whatever], then," is from someone who is deliberately trying to annoy me or prove a point to me; while a non-Christian might get asked that for those reasons, it's probably just as likely, if not more likely, that e'd be asked those questions out of the assumption that Christianity is the default and everything else is a variation on that default.

Re: Privilege and your experiences

Itzika — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:13:32 -0600

As a Christian, I asked a question about Buddhism on these forums and had someone explain to me that Buddhism and Christianity weren't all that different, the implication being that I *must* be Christian. To be fair I had mentioned my religion in a different thread on religion, so it might not have been an assumption. In middle school, when I was Wiccan, I had someone repeatedly tell me and inform someone else in front of me that I wasn't *really* Wiccan, no matter what I chose, affirmed, or practiced, because I'd been baptized into Christianity. As an infant. By my parents' choice. Apparently your parents get to permanently decide your religion now.