Khyati Y. Joshi

Khyati Joshi's White Christian Privilege is an important book. It takes one of the most embedded ideas, that White Christian norms should be American society's norms, and holds these beliefs up to the light. Some of the ideas she expresses will make people uncomfortable.

Joshi demonstrates that White Christianity is assumed by most to be the norm. We get Christian holidays off. Public meetings begin with Christian prayer.

Religious freedom as a concept is explored in a historical context. One thing I was surprised to find was that what we know as religious freedom was a compromise between the white settlers to ensure that no sect became America's official religion. So, religious freedom didn't begin as the high minded concept we describe it as now. It was simply a case of "If I can't have it my way, neither can you." It's stories like these that really make you question the whole mythology around America's founding.

Courts have also been hostile to any religious freedom that wasn't directed towards white men. There's discussion in the book of many court cases where courts explicitly shifted the goalposts on what constituted white and/or Christian so that they could deny rights to whatever petitioner was before them. These decisions helped keep legal immigration for non-Western European people at a minimum until LBJ signed the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965.

The use of Christianity by whites to justify colonialism and genocide is also a big topic in the book. Manifest Destiny and the Doctrine of Destiny are two of the ideas explored. Both of these ideas constituted an explicit approval by church authorities on the subjugation and annexation of Asian, African and Latino countries. The fact that some people still think that these doctrines were correct shows how far we have to go as a society.

Where the book shines is the personal stories and anecdotes Joshi provides as illustrations. She tells us of religious bullying and retaliation in schools, refusal to perform non-Christian weddings, and similar things. I really wish she'd given us more of these stories at the expense of the historical context. While it is important for the reader to know what happened in the past, what's more important is knowing how to address this privliege in the future. Joshi also uses the last chapter to provides some proscriptions on how we can better address privilege as a society. I would have preferred to have even more exploration of this content.

The other reason the anecdotes rang so true to me is because I, as a non-white, non-Christian immigrant, have been subjected to the thoughtless actions of white Christians. In 2017, I went to a baseball game with friends. During the singing of the national anthem, one of them, a white, devout Catholic, thought it would be hilarious to yell, "Build the wall!" at the end of the song. When I confronted him, I was told I was being humorless and that he was only play-acting as a "jingoistic American". I did finally get an apology, but it was grudging and not at all genuine. The fact that this person thought this was fine shows how far the deck is stacked in his favor.

I think people who want to begin to understand the challenges faced by people like me should read this book. Without this level of dialogue, it'll be impossible to begin changing society for the better. I hope to read more from Joshi and others like her in the future.… (mais)

Joshi reveals an aspect of white privilege not often spoken about. She makes visible the invisible structures of privilege that favor White Christians, especially Protestants, in America. Joshi delves into American history, law, governance, and social norms to illustrate how Christian privilege permeates our country’s institutions and cultural practices. She responds to the common reactions voiced by those who deny such privilege exists. Importantly, Joshi addresses what actions can be taken to counter White Christian privilege. This will be a difficult book for many to read since Joshi provides clear evidence of how White Christian privilege permeates American society. However, this is an important book to read for any American who is brave enough to confront the country’s history and current realities and cares enough to work to have the nation’s stated ideals of religious freedom become our lived reality.… (mais)