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Christianophobia-mania
07 December 2004Is "Christianophobia" on par with anti-Semitism and anti-Islam hatred? The Vatican has belatedly announced its diplomatic campaign seeking U.N. recognition of discrimination against and persecution of Christians. But not all Christian groups are happy with the new language, and not all of the dissenters are unhappy for the same reasons. The World Council of Churches is wary that the term encourages a conception of religious bias as "one religion against another." Meanwhile, Alessandra Aula, of Franciscans International, fears that the term lays the groundwork for the erosion of universal human rights: "'You will then have Sikhs and Buddhists and all the others coming and claiming rights. Where does it end?" The Reuters report identifies the Vatican campaign as "discrete" ("individually distinct"), though they mean it's a "discreet" ("unostentatious") campaign, largely unknown until the Vatican's foreign minister, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, first spoke publically of the move last Friday, announcing that the Holy See had insisted on the inclusion of "Christianophobia" in U.N. discussions of religious bias. A more substantial language problem, though, is with the term "Chistianophobia" itself. A U.N. diplomat says he didn't "'want any more terms ending in phobia.'" And The Revealer's been told by Christians, ad nauseum, that "homophobia" is an unfair term that implies mental illness on the part of the believer. They're right, which is why we've limited our use of it. The use of "phobia" pathologizes biases. While some prejudice is, no doubt, the result of psychological problems, discrimination can also be rationally-based, faith-based, or just plain old bigoted.
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