George Yancey (PhD, University of Texas) is a professor of sociology at Baylor University and the author of a number of books on racial reconciliation, as well as books on the increasingly hostile, anti-Christian environment in America, especially in academia. And he is a fair-minded scholar, basing his views on hard data and not afraid to criticize his own, evangelical side. Yet he, too, is sounding the alarm, with one volume actually titled, So Many Christians, So Few Lions: Is There Christianophobia in the United States? (He defines Christianophobia “as an unreasonable hatred toward conservative Christians” – and he wrote this in 2014)
Prof. Yancey began his 2015 book, Hostile Environment: Understanding and Responding to Anti-Christian Bias, with a striking personal illustration. He wrote:
“I remember vividly a disturbing conversation that I once had with a good Christian friend who taught in a high school. He told me that he mentioned one day in class that some Christians around the world were being killed for their faith. To his amazement, some students approved of these murders. In their minds, it was time for Christians to face the same death that Christians had inflicted on others.
“I was struck by the ahistorical nature of this line of thought. Although Christians in the United States do not face jail or death for their faith, there is a long history of Christians around the world being punished for their faith. I also wondered how so much hatred had developed against Christians. This conversation took place almost two decades ago, and I see little evidence that this type of hatred has abated.