What is Christian Privilege and how is it eaffecting our youth? That is the central question asked in the sociology essay entitled Teaching the College “Nones”: Christian Privilege and the Religion Professor, which was written by Caryn D. Riswold, a teacher at Illinois College. With that complex question in mind Riswold’sRiswold’s hypothesis is somewhat more straightforward, Christian Privilege as a social institution creates a world of discrimination for those who are not Christian or consider themselves non-believers (Riswold). Riswold defends her hypothesis well with three very solid well-researched points (Riswold). However, one must recognize where her argument points loose focus and where her argument should be expanded.
Before understanding…show more content… Although Riswold hypothesis is convincing does her argument match the great hypothesis? Yes, I believe so. Riswold proves her hypothesis by using three questions that build upon one each other: what is a none and how many are their actually within the American society, what is Christian Privilege in America and how does it discriminate others especially the nones, and lastly how does American’s discriminates against non-Christians and non-believers (Riswold). To prove her argument points, Riswold uses a common sociology tactic called Empirical Discipline. University of North Carolina Department of Sociology defines Empirical Discipline, as, “basing your conclusions on evidence that is documented and collected with as much rigor as possible” (Sociology) In Riswold’s first step toward proving her argument, she uses empirical discipline to prove that nones or non-believers are very present within American culture especially among young people. On page 134 Riswold quotes the Pew Research Center polling that found that 32 percent of adults under the age of 30 don’t identify with any major religion (Riswold134). The Pew Center polling is an important piece of evidence because it proves…show more content… Anti- atheistic and non-believer propaganda is a problem within America. As well, as the Christian ideals, which are believed to be universal, however, in fact, creates the world where a large group of young Americans find discrimination. Although I believe this to be a valid point, I do believe that Riswold is missing a big factor within her argument. Media, especially in America has an incredible influence on people's perception and beliefs. For example, Fox News has more than a million viewers at any given moment, on any given day, making it the biggest news provider in America (Reuters). With that in mind, it is scary to think that according to the Pew Research Center sixty percent of the material shown has a conservative undertone (Mitchell Gottfried, Kiley, and Matsa). This becomes even scarier for non-Christians when one realizes that every single Republican in Congress has a Christian belief system (Cox). If we put these two ideas together, one realizes that the biggest news organization in America is incredibly Christian showcasing Riswold’s hypothesis. The idea is more obvious if one understands groupthink. Groupthink is defined as, “The act or practice of reasoning or decision-making by a group, especially when characterized by uncritical acceptance or conformity to prevailing points of view” (Definition of Groupthink in English). To summarize Fox New, Americas biggest News organization is overwhelmingly conservative,