America Has Gotten Much More Diverse - and Some Conservative Evangelicals Aren’t Happy About That
“America is no longer a white, Christian country,” says author Robert P. Jones in a video interview featured in The Atlantic last week. And the backlash is swift and unfeeling.
In this short video based on his book The End of White Christian America, Jones discusses the backlash against the diversification of America and the outrage that some conservative white evangelicals feel over the fact that the white Christian family is no longer the norm. These evangelicals feel like they’re “losing their grip” on power in America.
Watching the video, I was reminded of a headline from The Huffington Post that stuck with me: “When You’re Accustomed To Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression.” Evangelicals are no longer a privileged majority, and they see that loss of privilege as indicative of other groups getting “special rights” or perks. (How many times have you heard that phrase from the mouth of an angry anti-LGBTQ protester?)
Some white evangelical Christians seem to be punishing other groups for taking that status from them. They are lashing out against others’ advances – against marriage equality, against images of racially diverse or non-traditional families, against women’s reproductive rights and against really anything that doesn’t correspond to what they think “their America” should be.
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