What Counts as Discrimination Against Whom? Understanding Perceived Discrimination Against Christians

Abstract

White evangelical Christians consistently report feeling among the most discriminated against groups in the United States. Taking this surprising empirical finding as a point of departure, this article investigates why white evangelicals perceive such high levels of discrimination. Drawing on data from a large-scale survey experiment, the study finds that white evangelicals are especially attuned to slights directed at a fellow Christian but are significantly less likely to view the same behavior as discriminatory when it targets a member of a religious out-group. Moreover, this pattern is unique to white evangelicals: White non-evangelicals and non-white evangelicals are equally likely to perceive discrimination, regardless of the religious identity of the target. These results underscore the power of group identity in shaping perceptions and suggest that white evangelicals tend to interpret social experiences through religion-tinted glasses.