White Christian Privilege: The Illusion of Religious Equality in America

by Khyati Y Joshi

Overview

A study of how Christian beliefs are built into the U.S. Constitution and beyond, and the ramifications this has for American religious minorities.
A pervasive Christian privilege dominates the United States today. Christian beliefs, norms, and practices infuse our society, and lie embedded in our institutions, even dictating the structure of our week—from Sunday closings for the Christian Sabbath to blue laws restricting the sale of alcohol.  The United States is recognized as the most religiously diverse country in the world, and yet Christianity has always been integral to the country's national identity. These customs, which many of us have come to see as natural features of American life, prevent the "freedom of religion" declared in the pages of the Constitution from becoming a reality.

In White Christian Privilege, Khyati Y. Joshi traces Christianity's influence on the American experiment from before the founding of the Republic to the social movements of today. Mapping the way through centuries of slavery, westward expansion, immigration, and citizenship laws, she also reveals the ways Christian privilege in the United States has always been entangled with notions of White supremacy.
Drawing on the voices of Christians and religious minorities, Joshi explores how Christian privilege and White racial norms affect the lives of all Americans, often in subtle ways that society overlooks. By shining a light on the inequalities these privileges create, Joshi points the way forward, urging readers to help remake America as a diverse democracy with a commitment to true religious freedom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479836468
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	286
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Khyati Y. Joshi is Professor of Educartion at Fairleigh Dickinson University, author of New Roots in America's Sacred Ground: Religion, Race, and Ethnicityin Indian America, and co-editor of Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, Third Edition.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Christianity and American National Identity 21

2 Christianity and the Construction of White Supremacy 62

3 Immigration, Citizenship, and White Christian Supremacy 83

4 Everyday Christian Privilege 126

5 Voices of Christian Privilege 161

6 Making Meaning and Making Change 203

Acknowledgments 227

Notes 233

Bibliography 251

Index 265

About the Author 277

Editorial Reviews

"In embracing a head, heart, and hand approach to bringing about religious social justice, Joshi highlights the concept of lived religion—how people within same-named faith communities practice differently, based on personal choice, sociopolitical circumstance, cultural nuance, and other differentiating influences."

Journal of Church and State - Rosnidar B. Arshad and Christine Clark - Universityof Nevada

"In embracing a head, heart, and hand approach to bringing about religious social justice, Joshi highlights the concept of lived religion—how people within same-named faith communities practice differently, based on personal choice, sociopolitical circumstance, cultural nuance, and other differentiating influences."

Journal of Church and State - Rosnidar B. Arshad and Christine Clark - University of Nevada

"Joshi’s historical account is one thing, but her ability to bring the reader into her more than two decades of scholarship and practice, offering solutions to long standing issues and concerns within society is some of the most important methodology of the last decade or more. Overall, the book is refreshing, challenging, and timely. The reader should be prepared to experience this book all the way from beginning to end."

Journal of Interreligious Studies - Dr. J Cody Nielson

"Books that unpack problems in and questions about religion and race always feel timely in America; however, Joshi’s intersectional and social justice-grounded approach makes this a necessary read for those who desire a more just America. The book’s accessibility for students and the general public make its contribution all the stronger and more important"

Religions Journal

"By the time you have finished reading Khyati Joshi’s first chapter, in which she defines such things as 'separation of Church and State' and 'secularization' as optical illusions to mask the overwhelming dominance of Christianity in American culture, you wonder if you might have stumbled upon a gem. By the time you are finished, you might find yourself wondering if you’ve finished a new classic."

Journal of Interreligious Studies

"Joshi explores how Christian privilege and White racial norms affect the lives of all Americans, often in subtle ways that society overlooks. By shining a light on the inequalities these privileges create, Joshi points the way forward, urging readers to help remake America as a diverse democracy with a commitment to true religious freedom."

Anthropology Book Forum

"Insightful and provocative. Taking a social justice approach, this timely book explores how Christianity has been leveraged to maintain and reproduce structures of domination and subordination, a discussion that is much needed and most welcome as debates about borders, migrants, and citizenship inflect public policy and civic engagement."

Zayn Kassam

"Smart and timely, energetic and approachable, this book is destined to be one of those touchstone texts that finds its way to a varied audience eager both to learn and to make meaningful change in American culture."

Philip Goff

"From the first page of White Christian Privilege, Khyati Joshi makes it plain that she is not interested in euphemizing. Nor is she interested in gently nudging her audience— one comprised at least in part by, if not mostly by, the people whose privilege she is illuminating— into a more aware mindset. Instead, Joshi wastes no time by acknowledging the truth."

Englewood Review of Books

"'In order to form a more perfect Union,' books such as White Christian Privilege add enormous value to highlighting the gap between illusion and reality."

New York Journal of Books

"Illuminates the myriad ways that social structures, individual actions, and cultural assumptions have brought White Christians outsized power and freedom from responsibility. Thoughtful people of all races and faiths need to read and heed her words."

Paul Spickard

"Joshi views subliminal privilege in the common metaphors and underlying assumptions of our society. This privilege is sometimes Christian, sometimes White, and sometimes both. White Christian Privilegesets forth the history and the evidence for this privilege, and then proposes how to change it."

David R. Blumenthal