It’s a standard belief in evangelical circles that there is an anti-Christian bias in America (and Canada) and even persecution of Christians. What do they mean and what are some examples?
To my mind, much of what
is considered anti-Christian bias is rather a reduction in pro-Christian bias.
This is happening as the country becomes more secular with fewer people
identifying as Christian. Immigration brings people of other faiths, and each
successive generation of people with a Christian background seem to have fewer
church-goers.
A frivolous example claimed
to be anti-Christian bias is people saying “Happy holidays!” instead of “Merry
Christmas and a happy New Year!” Most people that use the shorter greeting, I
suspect, are just lazy. Or they are doing it out of respect for other religious
faiths. Does saying “Happy holidays” instead of “Happy Hanukkah!” represent anti-Semitism?
Similarly using the
shorter form of Xmas for Christmas was met with the lament “they are taking
Christ out of Christmas”. Until someone pointed out that in the Early Church
the Greek letter for X was used as a code for Christ.
An example that Trump
himself used is the arrest and conviction of anti-abortion protestors outside
of abortion clinics. But, if you deliberately disobey a law because of your
religious beliefs you should be prepared to accept the consequences. If Muslim
protestors were harassing people at a public beach for exposing too much skin,
which is against their religious beliefs, they would get arrested too. Would
the penalty be more severe for the anti-abortionist? Possibly, but it could be
argued that a pregnant woman, forced to make a very difficult decision, is more
vulnerable to harassment than a holiday swimmer.
Sunday store opening and Sunday
sports events was a big issue a few decades ago. Christians saw this as discrimination
making the attendance of Sunday morning church service more difficult. But laws
prohibiting commerce, entertainment and sports on Sunday are examples of
pro-Christian bias, and discriminate against Jews and Seventh Day Adventists
who celebrate their Sabbath on Saturday. In Canada the Lord’s Day Act, passed
in 1906, was ruled unconstitutional by the Canadian Supreme Court in 1985. And
many Christians in my acquaintance pick up groceries Sunday afternoon.
Then there is the issue of
same-sex marriage. Many Christian denominations consider homosexuality to be a
sin and do not recognize same-sex marriage. Does allowing same-sex marriage
constitute persecution of Christians? I don’t think so - Christians are still
allowed to marry whomever they want. Here again laws prohibiting same-sex
marriage (or hiring homosexuals) is an example of a pro-Christian bias which actually
persecutes another minority group.
In America the First Amendment,
which protects freedom of speech and religion, and prohibits the establishment
of a national religion, has been under-enforced until recently. As the
pro-Christian bias and privileges get whittled away Christians naturally see
this as an attack on them. One of these privilege losses was the reciting of
the Lord’s Prayer in public schools.
But then the American
governments overreacted and during the 1960s and 70s restricted religious
organizations from access to public facilities and funding. During the last two
decades the Supreme Court has restored the balance so that, as David French
writes,
“…people of faith enjoy equal access to school
facilities, equal access to public funds (including tuition assistance) and
extraordinary independence from nondiscrimination laws with the hiring and
firing of ministerial employees”
This balance doesn’t make
everyone happy so the culture wars continue. Some liberals want to go further
in restricting religious rights. And many conservative Christians want to go
back to the good old days when they had more things their way.
This is the trend behind
the 2024 Louisiana law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in every
public school room, and the movement pushing the voucher system for public
funding of religious schools in various states.
And this is the mood that
the Republican Party and Donald Trump tapped into. And with good success. About
82% of the white evangelicals voted for Trump in 2024. David French states “no modern Republican has won the presidency
without overwhelming support from white evangelicals.”
On February 6 Trump signed
an executive order “to protect the
religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of
government.” He put Attorney General Pam Bondi as head of a “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias”
and directed that a report be prepared within 1 year. It will be interesting to
see what the report comes up with. I predict the task force recommendations
will result in less religious freedom for Americans, not more.
Trump’s executive order
talks about religious freedom but considers protection only for Christians, no
other religion. Yet a 2023 FBI report found only 10% (290 out of 2,833) of hate
crimes motivated by religious bias were anti-Christian. About 71% were
anti-Jewish and another 19% against other religions. Why were these ignored?
It can also be argued that
Trump himself is persecuting Christians. He encourages his Department of
Homeland officers to invade houses of worship in their search for undocumented
immigrants, breaking a decades-long policy of holding them sacrosanct. And
Trump’s sudden cancellation of USAID contracts affected many Christian
organizations serving needy people in America and around the world.
Organizations like World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse and Catholic Relief
Services.
David French has a unique
perspective on this issue. He was raised in an evangelical church and worked as
an attorney for conservative Christian organizations. After his views on some
issues changed he was forced to leave. Here is how he put it:
When I was representing conservative Christian organizations, I
could regale Christian audiences with stories of extreme secular intolerance,
and I never ran out of material — especially when discussing religious liberty
on college campuses. …personal tales of Christians who faced death
threats, intimidation and online harassment for their views, and it’s easy to
tell a story of American backsliding — a nation that once respected or even
revered Christianity now persecutes Christians.
Then conservative evangelicalism
ejected me from its ranks, and I experienced a level of anger and malice that
eclipsed anything I experienced from the most vitriolic secular progressives. I
started to hear from others who’d experienced the same thing, and my eyes
opened. Christians are wrecking lives in the name of righteousness.
French
concluded his article
Christians who bemoan cultural hostility to
their faith should be humbled by a sad reality. When it comes to inflicting
pain on their political adversaries, conservative Christians often give worse
than they get.
Sources:
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/what-anti-christian-bias-does-for
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/eradicating-anti-christian-bias/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/25/opinion/christianity-evangelicals-persecution-faith.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/opinion/trump-usaid-evangelicals.html
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/trump-accused-biden-of-assorted-wrongs
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