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So Many Christians, So Few Lions: Is There Christianophobia in the United States? Hardcover – November 6, 2014

by George Yancey (Author), David A. Williamson (Author)

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So Many Christians, So Few Lions is a provocative look at anti-Christian sentiments in America. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative research, authors George Yancey and David A. Williamson show that even though (or perhaps because) Christianity is the dominant religion in the United States, bias against Christians also exists—particularly against conservative Christians—and that this bias is worth understanding.

The book does not attempt to show the prevalence of anti-Christian sentiments—called Christianophobia—but rather to document it, to dig into where and how it exists, to explore who harbors these attitudes, and to examine how this bias plays itself out in everyday life. Excerpts from the authors’ interviews highlight the fear and hatred that some people harbor towards Christians, especially the Christian right, and the ways these people exhibit elements of bigotry, prejudice, and dehumanization. The authors argue that understanding anti-Christian bias is important for understanding some social dynamics in America, and they offer practical suggestions to help reduce religious intolerance of all kinds.

Editorial Reviews

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Yancey and Williamson explore anti-Christian attitudes in US society. Though they nod to historical precedent in the intellectual history of the 18th and 19th centuries, the authors focus primarily on current trends. They find that those who hold anti-Christian sentiments tend to have higher social status and to be better educated, more politically progressive, and less religious than other Americans. Moreover, the negative sentiment is directed not so much at Christianity in general as toward Christianity in its conservative/fundamentalist expressions. The authors conclude that progressives’ hostility derives from fear that conservatives seek to achieve political control to impose anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-pluralist views on society and thereby restrict individual liberties and choices. Progressives currently exercise a great deal of influence in American life. They cherish rationality, individual liberty, and toleration of others and resent intolerant Christians who seek to undermine their values and impose one exclusive view on all citizens. This aspect of the culture wars has long been recognized. The authors acknowledge limitations of their sources and admit a level of speculation. The value of this study is that it begins to document and analyze the presence of current anti-fundamentalist sentiments in the US. Summing Up: Recommended. With reservations. All readers. ― Choice Reviews

[T]he analytical manner in which the authors reported this hostility gave me the emotional freedom to pause and think more objectively about the animosity I’ve experienced. It let me put that animosity at arm’s length for a while. It gave me a chance to consider how I should respond. . . .This book helped me slow down, reflect, remember, and possibly be more prepared for the next time I’m tested. I want to be treated as human. Therefore I’m committed to treating even antagonists and dehumanizers as human. ― Breakpoint Commentary

Provocative, engaging, and never a dull moment. No matter your views, this well-researched book will challenge and increase your understanding with its in-depth look at America’s deep culture war. The best book on the topic to date. -- Michael O. Emerson, professor of sociology and co-director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, Rice University; author of Divided by Faith

A fine piece of research on a very neglected topic. Anti-Christian hostility is widespread among the academic and chattering classes. -- Rodney Stark, co-director of the Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University; author of Religious Hostility

Likely to become a standard reference work for anyone examining hostility to Christians in America. -- Marvin Olasky, editor–in–chief, World News Group

This book is yet another significant contribution by George Yancey. George Yancey and David A. Williamson grapple with a topic that few in academia are willing to engage—anti-Christian phobia. It is a look at how even those who should know better—those with the educational background and social status to combat bias and bigotry—can be susceptible to becoming a purveyor of intolerance, bigotry, and hatred. -- Marie A. Eisenstein, Indiana University Northwest

What explains the recent rise in animosity toward conservative Christians? Who among us is more likely to openly express such intolerance? Yancey and Williams answer these, as well as many other important questions, in their new book, So Many Christians, So Few Lions. They use established research methods and innovative techniques in explaining the emergence of ‘Christianophobia’—a phenomenon present in national survey data and explained in-depth by everyday Americans. This interesting and engaging text reveals new insights on how the changing dynamics of religious affiliation in the contemporary US can foster antagonisms toward evangelical Christians. -- Jason Shelton, University of Texas at Arlington

About the Author

George Yancey is professor of sociology at the University of North Texas. He is the author of numerous books, including Compromising Scholarship: Religious and Political Bias in American Higher Education and Dehumanizing Christians: Cultural Competition in a Multicultural World. His teaching and research focus on race and religion.

David A. Williamson is associate professor of sociology at the University of North Texas and author with George Yancey of What Motivates Cultural Progressives? And There is No God: Atheists in America. He has taught extensively and conducted research for more than 20 years in the U.S., Israel, and Africa.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1442224061
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 6, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 214 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781442224063
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1442224063
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.34 x 0.81 x 9.39 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,009,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #432 in Anglican Christianity (Books)
- #1,217 in Sociology of Religion
- #1,219 in Sociology & Religion

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The Professor
finally someone is looking at this major problem
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2015
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So Many Christians, so Few Lions is a well-researched book that documents the fact that Anti-Christian hostility is widespread among academics and other well educated persons as well as the political left classes in America. By Christianity the author refers primarily to conservative Christians, often meaning those that take their faith seriously as opposed the nominal or Sunday Christians. Especially targeted are those Christians who take so-called conservative stands on certain political issues. The author terms the anti-Christianity activity as intolerance, bias, bigotry and even hatred, producing a label the authors term Christianophobia, a term the authors spend a paragraph defining and defending. The authors, both PhD level professors of sociology at the University of North Texas, use sociological concepts to build their case. They also, like good sociologists, refer to several empirical sociological studies to document their case. A friend of mine (a sociologist) commented about this book published by a mainline academic publisher, finally someone is looking at this major problem. The notes and references run to 37 pages.

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wehrestate
Important reading for people interested in better understanding the culture war(s)
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2016
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Since it was a download I received it immediately to start reading. It is well written with a mind to making the data more understandable to the general reader. Well annotated, although it is a bit clunky to have all the footnotes listed after each chapter rather than at the end of the book. I am finding it a very fascinating study into early 21st century U.S. culture. Well done.

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James M.Jones
this was a very interesting read, but i did ...
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2016
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this was a very interesting read, but i did not quite understand the survey charts,on how they aligned with the numbers.

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Mark Gronseth
The book is a lot of statistics and is written ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2015
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The book is a lot of statistics and is written from a sociologist's perspective. Not as interesting as I had hoped it would be.

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Tim
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018
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Loved this book!

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Sam Logan
Outstanding!!
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2016
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Superb and challenging book!

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John Caruso
A book-length exercise in confirmation bias
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2015
I saw this book on the shelf at the library and found the title promisingly amusing enough to check it out. It didn't disappoint: it's an exercise in confirmation bias, dressed up with pseudo-academic trappings and disingenuous nods toward neutrality. It's filled with cherry-picking of questionable data and wild and unsupported extrapolations from meager inputs. It would take far too long to cover all of its faults, but I'll point out just a few lowlights:

- The title itself. Out of 3577 survey respondents, 7 joked about Christians and lions at some point throughout their surveys--that's a whopping 0.2% of respondents. But in order to try to give this microscopic group of clearly tongue-in-cheek comments some greater ominous significance, the authors analogize it to "Jews" and "ovens", e.g. asking if we'd treat "So many Jews, so few ovens" as being insignificant even if only a few respondents expressed this type of sentiment.

The dishonesty and/or self-delusion here is breathtaking. Are the authors really so dense that they fail to see any meaningful difference between 1) a flamboyantly baroque (and possibly apocryphal) punishment from ancient history, and 2) one of the most horrific tortures used in the systematic slaughter of millions of people that happened within living memory? And do they really apprehend no difference whatsoever in the humor status of Christians/lions vs Jews/ovens? The entire reason that "So many Christians, so few lions" is a joke is because it's utterly absurd to imagine it happening now, and that incongruity creates the unexpected resolution that is the core of humor--whereas there are people alive today who avoided being killed in the Nazi ovens by only the slimmest twist of fate, and there are also people alive today who are deadly serious when they talk about Jews and ovens (as I write this a neo-Nazi was just convicted for murdering three people he believed were Jews). There's a reason that "Christians vs lions" is an acceptable laugh line in the Sunday comics section but "Jews vs ovens" would instantly end anyone's career.

Beyond this absurd and offensive analogy, I'm confident that not a single one of these 7 respondents actually wants to see Christians fed to lions. It's hard to imagine a better illustration of the tenuousness of the authors' thesis than the fact that the very title of their book is based on a joking response from a mere 0.2% of respondents, all of whom would no doubt be horrified to see anything like that joke become reality.

- Statistical shenanigans. For instance, one of the survey questions asked respondents to rate the desirability of having two individuals as neighbors: either 1) "a vocal Republican who is not a Christian" or 2) "a vocal Christian who is apolitical". Choosing option 1 over option 2 was treated as a key factor in assessing "anti-Christian hostility"; by the same logic, if someone likes peaches more than pears, choosing peaches over pears is evidence of their "anti-pear hostility". The authors actually admit that their definition of "hostility" encompasses people who merely "do not think as highly" of one group as another, even if both groups are given positive ratings (!!).

The authors also conflate hostility toward fundamentalist Christians with hostility toward all Christians as a group, despite the fact that Christians as a group were rated higher than every group except Whites--a fact they admit before going on to consistently ignore it. The book is filled with this kind of disingenuous sleight of hand: a qualification is noted in one place to give the appearance of honesty and neutrality, then largely abandoned throughout the remaining text in favor of overwrought generalizations (again, witness the title of the book itself).

And I haven't even touched on the authors' survey, which was conducted online using Survey Monkey (yes, really), was targeted solely at respondents who are members of unidentified organizations involved in countering the politics of the religious right (a textbook attempt at cherry-picking if ever there was one) and who furthermore were self-selecting in terms of which of them responded, was time-limited based on the authors' perception of how further responses would skew the data, and so on. If you're looking for academic rigor you won't find it here--though you will find the authors working hard to give the impression of rigor.

- Absurdly tenuous claims. For example, the authors point to a shadowy cabal of anti-Christian "individuals with high levels of social, economic, and media power," implying that Christians are targeted and oppressed by this powerful elite. Their evidence? Hand-picked quotes from people like Maureen Dowd, Elton John, Rosie O'Donnell, Gene Roddenberry (yes, really), and Dana Jacobson (who?). That's right: Elton John's view that organized religion is "not really compassionate" and can make people "hateful" is evidence of a vast anti-Christian conspiracy. Hilarious.

And to top it off, even their carefully chosen selection of quotes often fail to show any animosity toward Christians--e.g. O'Donnell's "radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America," a statement which is not only merely a comparative but which speaks only about the small percentage of radical Christians, not all Christians in general. This is true throughout the book: quotes are regularly misread through the most negative possible filter and/or given a sinister spin in lieu of a more obvious and unremarkable interpretation.

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I could go on, but there's no point. This book is obviously intended as red meat for Christians in the United States who desperately desire to see themselves as persecuted victims, despite the fact that Christianity is by far the dominant religion in this country and that disavowing religion in general and Christianity in particular is as good as a political death sentence (there are exactly zero "out" atheists in Congress). But scratch the patina of impartiality and academic respectability here and you'll find little more than a pair of partisans who went in search of confirmation of their obvious biases and--surprise!--found it. It's worthwhile only for the unintentional humor value, and as an insight into the ways that members of powerful in-groups will bend over backwards to paint themselves as beleaguered and persecuted.

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Amazon Customer
Sad, becasue the topic deserves some light and discussion
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2015
$29 for the kindle version of a 214 page book by academics is insanity. I suspect the authors and/or publisher are hopeful that no one else reads their book. Sad, becasue the topic deserves some light and discussion.

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7 people found this helpful

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