Week 9:

This week, a brief letter to the editor in the Chronicle of Higher Education caught my attention.  This letter dealt with Christian Privilege, which – to this point in the project – had not been a concept that had occurred to me to cover.  I went looking for an academic article on this topic, and settled on “Christian Privilege, History, and Trends in U.S. Religion” by Ellen Fairchild.  This article really had an impact on me.  I am so unaware of the privilege I walk around with every day.  I am white.  Heterosexual.  Christian.  Born and raised in the US, as were several generations of my family before me.  Sometimes I bemoan the fact that my family doesn’t have a lot of traditions.  We are so very “American” that we don’t know much about where our ancestors came from.  Our holidays are the typical Christian American holidays, and we don’t have anything special outside of that. 

I have a fairly diverse group of friends, and have been invited to Orthodox Easter celebrations, Summer Solstice events, and Hanukah parties.  Whenever I am invited to something out of the norm for me, I find myself jealous.  I want that connection to who I am, to where I have come from.  I have moved so far from religion, and my family is so far from who we were before we were American, that we have nothing unique to us anymore.  In my privileged bubble, I have never once stopped to consider the downside to having a non-typical experience.  Hanukah falls during a time when the whole country is bombarded with Christmas messages.  No one worries if Ramadan falls during finals.  My son’s public school was closed for a “local holiday” on Good Friday, but Passover went without mention. 

As a Catholic institution, I am not yet sure what I feel Loyola’s responsibility is to students of diverse religions.  But I am certainly much more aware of the variety of challenges non-Christian students face on our campus.

(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.flagship.luc.edu/doi/10.1002/ss.302/pdf)