"We have to find how to build a society in which everyone can express their beliefs and practice their religion without feeling threatened"
For Daniel Moulin, who completed his PhD at Oxford University and is currently a research fellow at the ICS of the University of Navarra, "in the Western world, prejudices against Christianity are considered more acceptable than prejudices against other religions"
"We have to research more on how we can build a society in which everyone can freely express their beliefs and practice their religion without feeling threatened," or so claimed Daniel Moulin, who completed his PhD at Oxford University and is currently a research fellow within the Religion and Civil Society project of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS), the humanities and social sciences research center at the University of Navarra.
Dr. Moulin highlighted that the field of sociological study on prejudice began in the 1960s with the work of Gordon Allport from Harvard University and, therefore, "is still young." In this regard, he suggested that it would be helpful to better understand the idea that "in the Western world, prejudices against Christianity are more acceptable than those against other minority religions."
As Dr. Moulin claimed, this starts with a problem of the definition of prejudice: "If I do not agree with a person's beliefs, is that prejudice or my right to disagree with the beliefs another person holds?" To shed light on the subject, he drew a parallel with discrimination on other grounds, saying that "Having a bad opinion of a person based on his or her race is clearly rejected, but this is not so when the motives are religious beliefs."
Strengthening of minority groupsThe ICS researcher stressed that, however, prejudice against a minority group can be a strengthening factor for the group since the people in it "create stronger bonds between them to deal with the threat."
The British scholar was speaking at a seminar entitled "Anti-Christian Prejudice in England." The activity was part of research carried out to understand the prejudices that exist toward religions in England.
Daniel Moulin joined ICS in September 2014 after conducting a postdoctoral stay at the University of Geneva (Switzerland). His research focuses on areas including the philosophy of education, spirituality, intercultural education and religion. His latest book, Leo Tolstoy, was published by a notable publisher, Bloomsbury, in 2011. Between 2011 and 2013 he was director of the Chapel of Somerville College (University of Oxford) in the United Kingdom.