Unfavorable feelings towards ideologies

[Volokh, Eugene]

	This raises an interesting question, including one that is
relevant to litigation in which religious animus is alleged.  

	Surely some degree of unfavorable feelings towards people who
hold certain beliefs, whether moral or factual, is quite proper.  For
instance, if evangelicals are generally seen as being opposed to
equality for homosexuals and heterosexuals, those who strongly support
such equality -- whether rightly or wrongly -- would understandably hold
some unfavorable feelings towards people whom they see as morally
mistaken on an important issue.  

	Likewise, one who takes the view that it's irrational to believe
in factual assertions that are not adequately provable would quite
reasonably have unfavorable feelings towards people who he believes hold
views about the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, Jesus's walking on
water, and so on that he sees as irrational and unscientific.  I take
it, for instance, that most of us would harbor unfavorable feelings
towards people who believed in werewolves, vampires, or astrology,
because we would think such beliefs are unfounded and evidence an
irrational outlook on the physical world.  To many nonbelievers, belief
in miracles is just as unfounded as belief in werewolves.

	Now of course it is a mistake for people to overgeneralize what
people of certain religions believe; and it may well be that
evangelicals' beliefs both about morality and about facts are more
divergent than many would assume.  Likewise, the law prohibits certain
actions based on one's disapproval of others' religious beliefs.  And if
the respondents had not just expressed unfavorable feelings, but rather
hatred or a desire to illegally oppress, we might be more troubled.  But
is it really shocking that people would disapprove of certain ideologies
-- and disapprove based on perfectly plausible moral and philosophical
premises -- and would harbor unfavorable views towards those who exhibit
such ideologies?

	Finally, tying this back to the legal question:  Say that
decisionmakers at the university are on the record -- perhaps in their
scholarship -- as expressing disapproval of various evangelical moral
views, or for that matter as arguing that religion (or at least religion
that involves belief in miracles, such as the Resurrection) is religion.
How should this evidence be viewed in employment discrimination cases
brought against the university?  Conversely, say that a decisionmaker at
some institution takes the view that religion is an important force for
morality, and absence of religion tends to lead to immoral and dangerous
behavior; how should this evidence be viewed in employment
discrimination cases brought by atheists against the institution?

	Eugene

________________________________

	From: religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
[mailto:religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Duncan
	Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 7:59 AM
	To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics
	Subject: Article of Interest
	
	
	The August 18,2007 issue of World Magazine reports on a study of
religious bias in academia. Here is a link to the article--Tenured
Bigots <http://www.worldmag.com/articles/13235> -- (I think you need to
be a subscriber to read the entire article) and here is a relevant
excerpt:
	 

	In a recently released scientific survey of 1,269 faculty
members across 712 different colleges and universities, 53 percent of
respondents admitted to harboring unfavorable feelings toward
evangelicals. 
	"The results were incredibly unsurprising but at the same time
vitally important," French told WORLD. "For a long time, the academic
freedom movement in this country has presented the academy with story
after story of outrageous abuse, and the academy has steadfastly refused
to admit that the sky is blue-that it has an overwhelming ideological
bias that manifests itself in concrete ways. This is another brick in
the wall of proving that there's a real problem." 
	Unlike much of the previous foundation for that proof, this
brick hails from a non-evangelical source. Gary A. Tobin, president of
the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, set out to gauge levels
of academic anti-Semitism compared to hostility toward other religious
groups. He found that only 3 percent of college faculty holds
unfavorable views toward Jews. In fact, no religious group draws
anywhere near the scorn of evangelicals, Mormons placing a distant
second with a 33 percent unfavorable outcome. 
	Tobin was shocked. And his amazement only escalated upon hearing
reaction to his results from the academy's top brass. Rather than deny
the accuracy of Tobin's findings or question his methodology, academy
leaders attempted to rationalize their bias. "The prejudice is so deep
that faculty do not have any problem justifying it. They tried to
dismiss it and said they had a good reason for it," Tobin told WORLD. "I
don't think that if I'd uncovered bigotry or social dissonance about
Latinos, women, blacks, or Jews, they would have had that same
response." 
	Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University
Professors (AAUP), told The Washington Post that the poll merely
reflects "a political and cultural resistance, not a form of religious
bias." In other words, the college faculty members dislike evangelicals
not for their faith but the practical outworking of that faith, which
makes it OK. 
	 
	Not really a surprise to many of us who live our lives in
Academe, but nice to have some numbers to quantify the animus.
	 
	Cheers, Rick Duncan


	Rick Duncan 
	Welpton Professor of Law 
	University of Nebraska College of Law 
	Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
	 

	"It's a funny thing about us human beings: not many of us doubt
God's existence and then start sinning. Most of us sin and then start
doubting His existence."  --J. Budziszewski (The Revenge of Conscience)
	 
	"Once again the ancient maxim is vindicated, that the perversion
of the best is the worst." -- Id.

	________________________________

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