THE PUBLIC RELIGION RESEARCH INSTITUTE YOUTH ñ RECENTLY
POLLED AMERICANS OF DIFFERENT GROUNDS TO SEE WHAT THEY THINK
OF RELIGIOUS DISSEMINATION HERE IN THE UNITED STATES, AND
THE RESULTS ARE ACTUALLY PRETTY INTERESTING AND ACTUALLY
SURPRISING.
WHAT THE POLLSTERS WANTED TO DO WAS COMPARE DISCRIMINATION, OR
AT LEAST PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN
CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS.
THE BEST PEOPLE ñ THE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WHO WERE
PULLED DO AGREE THAT MUSLIMS ARE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST MORE
THAN CHRISTIANS, EXCEPT FOR ONE DEMOGRAPHIC.
OVERALL, PEOPLE WERE TWICE AS LIKELY TO SAY THAT MUSLIMS
FACE DISCRIMINATION AS THEY WERE TO SAY THE SAME THING ABOUT
CHRISTIANS.
THE PEOPLE WHO STUCK OUT, WHOSE PERCEPTIONS WERE RADICALLY
DIFFERENT THAN OTHERS IN THE SURVEY, WERE WHITE
EVANGELICAL PROTESTANTS.
AMONG THIS GROUP, 57% SAID THERE'S A LOT OF DETERMINATION
AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN THE U.S. TODAY.
ONLY 44% SAID THE SAME THING ABOUT MUSLIMS.
THIS IS MY FAVORITE STORY IN A LONG TIME, IT'S SO GREAT.
AND THANK YOU JOHN GIBSON AND BILL O'REILLY, ALL OF YOU
CLOWNS, FOUR YEARS TALKING ABOUT THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS, IT WORKED.
YOU GOT THE LEAST VICTIMIZED PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, EXCEPT
MAYBE FOR LIKE SAUDI PRINCES, TO BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE THE
SUBJECT OF DISCRIMINATION AND THAT THEY ARE THE VICTIMS
OF TODAY'S WORLD.
THE GOOD NEWS IS, WHITE MAINLINE PROTESTANTS, ROCK AND ROLL,
EXACTLY THE NATIONAL AVERAGE, 63% SAY IN, YES, MUSLIMS ARE
DISCRIMINATED AGAINST, ONLY 33% SAYING THAT ABOUT CHRISTIANS.
CATHOLICS EVEN HIGHER, 64 TO 36.
THIS ISN'T ABOUT WHITE FOLKS, THIS ISN'T ABOUT CHRISTIANS, IT
IS A PARTICULAR SUBCULTURE OF EVANGELICALS, WHO HAVE BEEN
TAUGHT A CERTAIN THING.
AND BY THE WAY, THEY ARE MORE PRONE TO PROPAGANDA, BECAUSE
THEY ARE THE ONES WHO BELIEVE, WHATEVER MY PASTOR TELLS ME
ABOUT WHAT GOD SAYS, INCLUDING ABOUT HOW HE HAS TO GET RICH AND
FLY AROUND IN THE PRIVATE JET THAT I PAID FOR, I BELIEVE IT.
I'M NOT QUESTIONING IT.
SO I BELIEVE I'M THE VICTIM, EVEN THOUGH I HAVE AN
ADVANTAGE IN AMERICA.
IT IS THOSE DASTARDLY MUSLIMS WHO SOMEHOW HAVE POWER IN
AMERICA?
APPARENTLY THEY CAN MAKE THAT CASE.
WHAT'S INCREDIBLE IS THAT PRIOR TO THE ELECTION, A LARGER
PERCENTAGE OF THEM BELIEVED THAT MUSLIMS WERE ESTIMATED
AGAINST VERSUS TODAY.
LET ME GIVE YOU THOSE NUMBERS.
GRAPHIC 10.
WHEN THIS QUESTION WAS ASKED IN A DECEMBER, 2013 PRRI SURVEY,
59% OF WHITE EVANGELICALS SAY THEY THINK THAT MUSLIMS
FACE A LOT OF DISCRIMINATION.
AS LATE AS LAST OCTOBER, 56% SAID THAT THIS WAS THE CASE.
AS OF FEBRUARY THOUGH, THAT NUMBER HAD DROPPED BY 12
PERCENTAGE POINTS.
ALL THE WAY FROM 59 TO 44.
WHY?
BECAUSE THEY ARE SO PRONE TO PROPAGANDA.
AS SOON AS THEIR DEAR LEADER DONALD TRUMP SAID THAT MUSLIMS
DON'T GET IT AGAINST, THEY WENT OKAY MUSLIMS DON'T GET
DISCRIMINATED AGAINST, EVEN THOUGH 12 POINTS ñ
EVEN THOUGH 12% MORE BELIEVE THAT A YEAR AGO.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE REALITY, 22% OF RELIGIOUS CRIMES
ARE COMMITTED AGAINST MUSLIMS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE LESS THAN
1% OF THE POPULATION.
AND IF YOU WANT TO COMPARE THAT TO CHRISTIANS AND CATHOLICS, WHO
ACCOUNT FOR A LARGER PORTION OF THE POPULATION, THAT NUMBER IS
13.6%.
BY THE WAY, A GROUP THAT IS NOT IN THIS STUDY, BUT THE GROUP
THAT GET THE MOST AMOUNT OF HATE CRIMES, RELIGIOUSLY MOTIVATED,
ARE JEWS IN AMERICA.
THEY DID THIS AT WORK.
THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS, WE MOCKED IT.
I DON'T KNOW WHETHER IT CAME FIRST OR THESE PEOPLE ALREADY
SET ñ FELT VICTIMIZED AND DISPLAYED INTO IT, BUT MY HUNCH
IS THAT STUFF LIKE THAT HELPS CRAFT THIS IDEA THAT THE WORLD
YOU KNEW AND GREW UP IN AND FELT SAFE FROM, AND WERE PROTECTED
FROM PROPERTY WOMEN AND BLACK PEOPLE AND MUSLIMS, AND PEOPLE
WHO WERE JUST COMING TO TAKE FROM YOU THE THINGS THAT WERE
RIGHTFULLY YOURS, THAT THAT HAS BEEN FOSTERED BY STUFF LIKE
THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS.
I'M SORRY, GO AHEAD.
MORE THAN PROPAGANDA, IT'S JUST THE VISIBILITY OF MUSLIMS
AND ISLAM AS A LEGITIMATE RELIGION.
SOME CHRISTIANS VIEW THAT AS A D CENSORING, AND THEY VIEW
THAT THE CENTER RING AS BEING MARGINALIZED OR OPPRESSED
THEMSELVES, WHICH IS FALSE.
AND I THINK IT ALSO OBSCURES THE FACT THAT THERE ARE
CHRISTIANS ACTUALLY BEING PERSECUTED, LIKE REALLY
PERSECUTED IN OTHER SPACES, BECAUSE THIS ISN'T
PERSECUTION, THIS ISN'T DISCRIMINATION.
I THINK IT'S JUST HAVING TO RECONCILE THE VISIBILITY OF
OTHER RELIGIONS IN THIS PLURALISTIC SOCIETY THAT WE SAY
WE LIVE IN.
SO WHEN ISIS KILLS CHRISTIANS, THAT'S DISCRIMINATION, RIGHT?
IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT LEVEL FOR THAT ñ FOR IT TO BE
DISCRIMINATION, THERE IS DISSEMINATION AGAINST CHRISTIANS
WHERE THEY ARE THE MINORITIES IN A LOT OF OTHER PLACES IN
THE WORLD.
THERE IS A LOT OF DETERMINATION AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN
AMERICA BECAUSE THEY ARE THE MAJORITY, IT MAKES SENSE.
BUT THEY VIEW THINGS LIKE, THAT 2015 SUPREME COURT DECISION THAT
LEGALIZED GAY MARRIAGE, THEY POINTED OUT AS THEM BEING
VICTIMIZED.
SO, BECAUSE THEY COUPLES GET THE SAME ñ GET HAVE THE SAME
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AS STRAIGHT COUPLES, EVANGELICALS
LOOK AT THAT AND GO, THEY TOOK AWAY MY RIGHTS TO IS
COMMITTED AGAINST YOU AWAY.
THEY TOOK MY RIGHT TO BE ABOVE YOU AWAY FROM ME, I'M A VICTIM.
I MEAN, YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT A SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE.
THESE GUYS, IF YOU TELL THEM SOMETHING PLEASANT LIKE
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, THEY THINK THEY ARE A VICTIM.
IF YOU SAY, CONGRATULATIONS YOU GET EQUAL RIGHTS, THEY
THINK THEY ARE A VICTIM.
IN THEIR VIEW, MARRIAGE IS THIS RELIGIOUS SACRED THING, AND
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IS AGAINST ALL OF THAT, AND ALLOWING GAY
COUPLES TO GET MARRIED GOES AGAINST THEIR RELIGION AND
THAT IS ATTACKING THEIR RELIGION IN SOME WAY.
THAT'S THE LINE OF REASONING THAT THEY HAVE, WHICH IS
RIDICULOUS.
WE LIVE IN A COUNTRY THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE IN
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, MEANING THAT YOU ARE FREE TO
PRACTICE YOUR RELIGION IN ANY WAY THAT YOU PLEASE, BUT YOU ARE
NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE YOUR RELIGION DICTATE THE RIGHTS OF
OTHER PEOPLE.
SO, YEAH, SAME-SEX COUPLES GET TO GET MARRIED, THAT IS A
CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE, NOT A RELIGIOUS ISSUE.
IN THIS COUNTRY IT IS NOT A RELIGIOUS ISSUE, AND IT
SHOULD NEVER BE A RELIGIOUS ISSUE.