Christian Privilege in Schools and Society

Christian privilege refers to the system of advantages bestowed on Christians in U.S. society. In the United States, Christian privilege is a phenomenon that denies or protects, marginalizes or embraces, on the basis of religion. Christian privilege exists through the cultural power of the norm, and of Christianity's position as the U.S. norm; by implication, everything inconsistent with the way religion is understood, taught, and practiced by Christians is often considered atypical. Christian privilege functions at all levels of society to give Christians certain advantages, described below, and concurrently to place non-Christians in the United States in a position of relative disadvantage. Christian privilege is one facet of the religious discrimination often experienced by non-Christians in the United States. Religious discrimination is perpetuated by the presence of Christian privilege and the concomitant infliction of bias toward non-Christians. By the application of Christian normativity in everyday thought and through religious marginalization, Christian hegemony is maintained in U.S. society through daily practices and the exercise of Christian privilege.

The concept of hegemony describes the ways in which a dominant group, in this case Christians in general and Protestants in particular, successfully disseminate social realities and social visions—comprising ideas and images that are viewed as inherently positive—in a manner that results in their being accepted as common sense, normal, and universal. Once this occurs, these norms are applied to convey advantage and approval upon those associated with the dominant group and, as a necessary result, disadvantage and disapproval upon those outside the dominant group. At times subtle, Christian hegemony maintains discrimination by neglect, omission, erasure, and distortion. Thus, Protestantism, and in more contemporary times Catholicism as well, is constructed as the norm against which the other religious groups are viewed. On the societal and institutional levels, the media transmit what they constitute as normal in terms of religions and religious beliefs, while maintaining the marginalization of the non-Christian religious groups.

Christian privilege exists and is perpetuated at three levels in U.S. society: institutional, societal/cultural, and individual. The institutional level includes the federal, state, and local governments and other broad societal institutions such as the mainstream news media and major social organizations. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires the state to allow and accommodate individual religious practices, and [Page 351]forbids the government from showing hostility toward any particular religion. While acknowledging that this is nominally true, some religions are accommodated and some religions are not. For example, schools prescribe annual vacation days for U.S. schoolchildren, scheduling them on the basis of Christian holidays, particularly Christmas and Easter. Spring break could be scheduled any time in March or April, yet is most often made to coincide with the week between Palm Sunday and Easter on the western Christian calendar. Likewise, it is rare to find a winter break that does not encompass Christmas Day, December 25, which is also the only federal holiday of religious origin.

Policies like these permit Christian children to accompany their parents to worship and participate in the festivities connected with each holiday without missing school or having to make up work. By contrast, a student celebrating holidays of a different religion may be forced to choose between celebrating and attending school. Even if the holiday is deemed an excused absence, it is an absence nevertheless; missed work must be made up and the student's educational continuity may be compromised. Thus, Christian privilege functions to advantage Christian students over their non-Christian counterparts.

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