Christian college students report rise in religious intolerance

Religious intolerance is a chronic problem present in most universities in Brazil, both public and private. In these places, where so-called “progressive” agendas are strongly encouraged by professors and student groups, Christians tend to suffer from diverse prejudices and, in some cases, bullying because of your faith. A People’s Gazette interviewed students and leaders of Christian movements who reported that intense political polarization has increased opposition to Christianity on universities.

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Some movements linked to Christian churches seek to be present in higher education institutions by organizing groups that meet during break times, before or after classes. One of them is the University Network, which aims to unite different Christian groups that already exist within the faculties. According to the leader of the organization, Pedro Mantovan, the University Network is present in 20 campuses.

He reported that the occurrence of various types of prejudice against Christians in the university environment is common. “Some think they are all from the ‘extreme right’, fascists, homophobes, sexists and so on. But for a while, what was on the agenda was that we were stupid, illiterate, without resources, and that our pastors were thieves”.

He claims that the political polarization between right and left has intensified the idea that all Christians have a right-wing bias. “But the truth is that Christians have been persecuted forever,” says Mantovan.

Although universities intend to be a plural place for discussions and open to different thoughts, ideas with a leftist bias prevail in universities and other ways of thinking end up being rejected. The report interviewed four students – who did not want to be identified for fear of being persecuted in educational institutions – who reported the prejudices they suffered.

A student studying Physical Education at a public university said that, in the first semester of the course, he and a colleague started a cell, a small group that meets to pray and do Bible studies with students. However, a substitute teacher started stalking the group. “That same teacher tried to close our cell. She went to the course director and said that we shouldn’t stay after class playing guitar. They managed to stop us for a month, but we spoke to the dean and managed to return”.

The student says that in one of the classes the teacher even threatened to fail him and his colleague because of their manifestations of faith. “She put issues in the room to question and debate. My colleague and I were always against her thoughts. But who was against her opinion, she discounted the grade or tried to harm in some way, ”she reports.

A graduate student in the area of ​​Agronomy at a public university said that a classmate even said, in the classroom, that “all people who defend the Judeo-Christian family system have to die”. The speech led her to complain to the class representative that the statement constituted hate speech.

However, the other students were in favor of the author of the hate speech, and the Christian student claims to have suffered even more prejudice after the episode. “Nobody greets me or talks to me anymore. Imagine if someone said that ‘everyone from the Northeast has to die’? The person would be arrested, because it is hate speech. But whoever says that ‘every person who defends the Judeo-Christian family system has to die’ is freedom of expression”, criticized the master’s student.

In the opinion of a student at a private university studying Journalism, being a Christian in this environment translates into a high chance of being socially excluded. “Quadrado” and “little believer” are some of the derogatory comments you’ve heard. “Maintaining your values ​​and principles at the university may cost your inclusion in that environment”, he pointed out.

Another student of the Psychology course at a private institution reported that, when leaving the classroom to participate in the group organized by Christian students, a colleague said that that core was being responsible for “opening a sect” at the university. “She made fun of the group and made some ironies too”.

There is an effort by some sectors so that evangelicals are seen as “villains of democracy”, says leader

Another project that is present in universities is the Student and Professional Crusade for Christ, the Cru, an organization that has 25,000 missionaries and 200,000 volunteers, operating in 190 countries. Also operating at the student level, Cru is present on 170 campuses in Brazil.

For Gilberlei Oliveira, one of the national directors of Cru Brasil, prejudice against Christians has always existed in higher education institutions. According to him, this intolerance has been aggravated over time and also due to political issues. “When I was a university student, in the early 1990s, there was prejudice for another reason. There were many times I heard: ‘Wow, you are so smart. It doesn’t even sound evangelical!’ I had some friends who chose not to reveal their religion for fear of being discriminated against,” he said.

Recently, Cru was accused by a left-wing militant, in a post on social networks that reached 1.5 million people, of being a “far-right Trojan horse”. Christian movement “We are an institution of a religious and apolitical nature”.

Oliveira revealed that, probably, a considerable portion of Christian university students have already suffered some type of bullying, religious intolerance or prejudice from professors or colleagues. “I note with concern that there is an escalation of hostility against evangelicals today.” And this happens, according to him, due to the engagement on the part of some churches with former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the acts of January 8th.

“Articles have been written, headlines produced and news have been manipulated to attribute responsibility to evangelicals for what are called ‘coup, terrorist and anti-democratic acts’”. He believes this sustains prejudices and stereotypes and increases the risk of hostilities. “There seems to be an effort by certain sectors of our society to transform evangelicals into villains of the Republic and a threat to democracy”, he criticized.

For Mantovan, leader of the University Network, these prejudices due to politics have increased. “The church was pegged as a supporter of the right due to the last elections. However, this is not entirely true. We support Christian biblical ideologies whether they are on the right or the left. And we do not support unbiblical and anti-Christian ideologies, whether they are on the right or the left,” he points out.