Project 1
Christianity Oppression
My group decided to choose the theme of cultural imperialism. Our topic is How Christianity Oppresses other Religions which ties in with our theme because cultural imperialism means that a culture of a nation has greater influence over any other culture. I chose my topic to be about unknown benefits that Christians have in the United States. I chose this topic because other religions are not acknowledged as much as Christianity is in America. It interests me to find out what kind of privileges and benefits Christians have based just on their religion. The issues around this are that people may find that their religion is being neglected in the United States.
The main issues I want to cover are the privileges and benefits that Christians unknowingly have in the United States.
The method of research I plan to use are academic journals that I have found from Galileo and other websites like it.
Pre-Service Teachers.” Journal of Research on Christian Education, vol. 27, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 39–55. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/10656219.2018.1446853.
Religion.” New Directions for StudentServices, no. 125, Jan. 2009, pp. 5–11. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=eric&AN=EJ833617&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Maxim.” Albany Law Review, vol. 63, no. 2, Dec. 1999, pp. 427–476. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=lgs&AN=502503298&site=eds-live&scope=site.
the Religion Professor.” Teaching Theology & Religion, vol. 18, no. 2, Apr. 2015, pp. 133–148. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/teth.12275.
Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, vol. 31, no. 1, Jan. 2003, pp. 44–51. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.2003.tb00530.x.
Nation’? Understanding Religious Boundaries of National Identity in the United States*.” Sociology of Religion, vol. 71, no. 3, Fall 2010, pp. 280–306. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/socrel/srq045.
Powerless Create a Vernacular of Rights.” Third World Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 6, June 2015, pp. 1191–1206. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/01436597.2015.1047203.
For my groups field research, we plan on creating a survey and letting other college students take them and get on what they think or believe to be true on our subject.
Religion.” New Directions for StudentServices, no. 125, Jan. 2009, pp. 5–11. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=eric&AN=EJ833617&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Summary: In the article “Chrsitian Privilege, History, and Trends in the U.S. Religion” Ellen Fairchild talks about the history of Christianity from the creation of the United States to the present day. She talks about the impact it has had throughout the United States history and how it has affected the current trends. Fairchild stated that “The privileging of the Christian faith in the United States has worked to establish a pseudonormalcy of the one faith.” (10) which means that it’s not actually normal.
Assess: The article will be very useful as it gives a historical background of Chrsitianity in the United States. The author also list multiple privileges that Christians may have in the present day. The article and the information is reliable as it is a peer reviewed article and I will be able to use this information. I would also say that this article is objective as the author mainly talks about the history of religion in the United States.
Reflect: I do plan on using this article for my project as it will be good to have some historical background. It will also be useful because of the list of privileges that christians have that the author listed in the article. Overall the source was helpful to me and it did not change how I think about my topic.
Journal of Multicultural Counseling & Development, vol. 31, no. 1, Jan. 2003, pp. 44–51. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.2003.tb00530.x.
Summary: The article, “Christian Privilege: Breaking a Sacred Taboo.” by Lewis Z. Schlosser, talks about the diversity issues in the United States but mainly focusing on Christian Privilege. Schlosser talks about how these privileges have led to the neglect of other religious affiliations. He states that “Chrisitans have more power than all of the minority religious groups combined.” (46). The author then goes and says that talking about Christian Privilege is “breaking a sacred taboo”(47). He also gives possible explanations for these privileges that Chrisitians have in America, along with creating a list of twenty-eight different privileges that they do have.
Abstract: This source is very useful mainly due to the list the author created. The author has many references so the information in the article is reliable and I would say because of this that the article is not biased.
Reflect: I will definitely use this article for my project as it goes very well with my research topic. The article will be very helpful as I can refer back to the list within it and cite some of the privileges it stated.
the Religion Professor.” Teaching Theology & Religion, vol. 18, no. 2, Apr. 2015, pp. 133–148. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/teth.12275.
Summary: In this article by Caryn Risworld, she talks about her perspective on Christian privilege in a classroom. Riswold is Christian and a professor of religion at Illinois College. In her article she explains what Chrsitian privilege is in a classroom and how it is a problem. Riswold states that “even in a class that is focused on the study of Christianity, the effects of Christian privilege can and should be acknowledged and interrupted.”(137). One of the other main things she talks about is educators being allies towards non-religious students or students who practice different religions that is not Christianity. Riswold explains being an ally “means to equip them to navigate these relationships and this environment effectively.” (139).
Abstract: This article could be useful as it gives a different perspective on Christian Privilege. This article is also reliable since Caryn Riswold is a professor and can speak from experience about the privileges in a classroom environment. I would say though that because of her position that this article is not objective but I don’t think it is bias either as she is saying that Christian privileges do exist.
Reflect: I think I will use this source for my project because it does give a unique perspective on my topic and it fits well with my topic too. The article was very helpful because he made me realize that Christian privilege can exist in a classroom setting.
Nation’? Understanding Religious Boundaries of National Identity in the United States*.” Sociology of Religion, vol. 71, no. 3, Fall 2010, pp. 280–306. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/socrel/srq045.
Summary: Jeremy Straughn and Scott Field decided to do a study about America and if it is a Christian Nation. They start off talking about how Christianity has been the dominant religion in the United States since the founding of the U.S. Then they say that Americans with Chrisitian faiths have declined over the years. Both the authors then ask the question “Why is America increasingly perceived as a Christian nation, even though Christians have not been growing as a proportion of the American population?”(281). This leads them to start their research study. Their main research question is “Who thinks being a Chrsitian makes one more truly American?”(290). They develop several hypotheses relating to their question also. They asked 1,049 Christians and found that only 44.4% of them think that it is very important and 16% think it's not important at all (Table 1). Of the 224 Non-Christians only 9.4% found it very important and 66.2% found it’s not important at all (Table 1).
Abstract: Overall I don’t think this source is very useful towards my topic. It seems reliable and objective but it does not relate to my topic that much.
Reflect: I don’t think I will use this source for my project because it didn’t talk about my topic that much and I would not be able to get much information from this article. It does not go well with my topic and was very little help for my project.