c. 2007 Religion News Service

SAN FRANCISCO _ College professors and administrators talk a lot about the importance of tolerance. But do the typical displays of campus tolerance _ anti-hate-speech codes, minority recognition celebrations, and special academic departments devoted to the study of ethnic groups _ teach true acceptance?

Not necessarily. Most campus salutes to diversity are superficial in their teaching about the complexities of race, religion and ethnicity. They also do not have universal impact. Some minority groups are respected; others are not.

My two-year study reveals a strikingly high level of college faculty intolerance toward certain religious groups. For instance, 53 percent of college professors hold unfavorable views of evangelical Christians; 33 percent hold negative views of Mormons. Almost every other religious group (including atheists) is viewed in an overwhelmingly positive way by college faculty. (The research is available at http://www.JewishResearch.org.)

The survey findings add a new dimension to our understanding of something that few universities want to admit: anti-Christian sentiment on campus. Student-led Christian groups routinely complain of being denied student funding, official university sanction, space on campus and so on, even though their mission is no different than that of other student-led religious groups.

Why do evangelicals and Mormons in particular receive such disdain from college professors?

Could it be that they are viewed as anti-intellectual? Perhaps, but evangelicals and Mormons have established fully accredited universities of their own.

Could it be the intense pride evangelicals and Mormons take in their identity? Not likely. Other religious, racial, and ethnic groups take great pride in their uniqueness and are supported, if not lauded for it.

Could it be their orientation towards proselytizing? Certainly not. Other faith groups such as Muslims proselytize or attempt to, and their efforts do not seem to be cause for concern on campus.

Could it be they are too religious and their fervor is threatening? Perhaps, but professors don’t seem to harbor resentments against observant Jews, Catholics, Sikhs, Hindus, and so on.

The explanation is more straightforward: politics and prejudice _ and the two are linked.

College professors perceive _ often wrongly _ that evangelicals (and Mormons) are all white and Republican. In fact, blacks are disproportionately evangelical, and increasing numbers of evangelicals are Hispanic.

Are all evangelicals die-hard Republicans? Bill Clinton captured the evangelical vote in 1992; a Democrat may well capture those voters again in 2008. While Mormons do strongly skew Republican, they are hardly a party-line denomination: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a Mormon, and a Democrat.

None of these points seem to matter to most faculty, apparently. Evangelicals and Mormons are held out for special dislike on campus. What’s more, the attributes of some evangelicals or most Mormons are ascribed to all of them.

There is a word for that kind of thing: stereotyping. And stereotypes of any kind are a form of prejudice.

To be sure, academics aren’t alone; we all entertain prejudices of one kind or another. But academia is supposed to be different. The building blocks of bigotry _ assumptions, gross distortions and stereotypes _ are by definition antithetical to the mission of a university.

The academy’s ongoing unwillingness to confront this bigotry has profound impacts.

Like them or not, evangelicals are a significant religious group in both U.S. and world events and one of the most important religious movements of the last century. Yet today’s college graduates learn little about the evangelical movement and its tenets.

It is precisely this lack of understanding that academics are supposed to address in their scholarly work and teaching. Yet the work is not being done; students aren’t learning enough about important religious movements. The price of this prejudice is paid not only by the evangelical and Mormon faithful; the price is paid, ultimately, in the soul of academia itself.

(Gary A. Tobin is president of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco and the author of several books, including “The Belief Systems of College Faculty.”)

KRE/JM END TOBIN750 words

A photo of Tobin is available via https://religionnews.com.