As the fall semester comes to a close at the University of Oklahoma, a student accused a grader and teacher of religious discrimination over a response paper she wrote in a psychology class.
Samantha Fulnecky received a zero on the assignment, which was supposed to be a response to an article on gender. Instead of offering an academic response, Fulnecky took the opportunity to provide her opinion on transgender identities, writing, “Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth.”
Fulnecky did not cite any sources for her conclusions other than her belief in the Bible. The university has told the student that the assignment will not be factored into her final grade.
Additionally, the school placed the professor and grader, who happens to be transgender, on administrative leave. Fulnecky told local reporters that she has not decided to pursue the situation legally, but right-wing organizations are lining up to represent her.
Fulnecky was invited to speak at the Original Constitution Principles Affecting Culture meeting this week, where former Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters said, “I know my friend Samantha is there. What a rockstar she is. What an absolute American hero standing up for her Christian faith against these radical leftists that continue to try to force wokeism on this next generation.”
Walters went on to conclude that the university should lose funding if it keeps pushing a radical leftist agenda. He has a long history of condemning any ideologies or opinions that contradict his strict Christian nationalist theology and agenda.
The situation follows other claims across the country.
At Texas A&M, a professor was fired for discussing gender identity in class after Gov. Greg Abbot and other right-wing lawmakers placed pressure on the school’s president, Mark Welsh III. Welsh stepped down recently, but did not specifically cite the situation as a reason.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump created a task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias. Trump claimed at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast that the task force would “protect Christians” and “bring our country back together as one nation under God.”
United States Attorney General Pam Bondi leads the task force, which includes the president’s cabinet and others. Presidential advisor Paula White is also a frequent attendee.
In the task force’s initial report, they cited what they claimed were numerous examples of Christian biases under the Biden Administration. However, one does not have to dig very far to discover that the allegations were presented without context or in a way that reinforces preconceived notions.
The rhetoric we often hear from right-wing Christian Evangelicals about their claims of persecution and anti-Christian biases is familiar. What they claim as persecution and bias are really culture and the courts not allowing them to force their religious beliefs upon other people. In reality, what they are angriest about is their loss of power, control, and dominance over others.
Jesus said in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed.” Jesus proclaimed a faith that set people free, not a religion that demanded special privileges.
Christian persecution is a real problem around the world, but in the United States, what right-wing Evangelicals call persecution is really their waking to the loss of privilege. Their use of the term “persecution” draws attention away from those places in the world where genuine persecution takes place.
Additionally, Christian persecution is a reality within the U.S., but not where you think. It’s coming from right-wing Evangelicals themselves.
They are the ones trying to force their religion on others. They are the ones trying to take away reproductive health care from women. They are the ones stripping away the rights of LGBTQ+ citizens.
They are the ones eliminating healthcare for millions. They are the ones making it more difficult for racialized communities to vote. They are the ones expelling the stranger instead of welcoming them.
Yes, Christian persecution is happening, but at the hands of right-wing Evangelicals.
If history has taught us anything, it is that one of the greatest global persecutors of people has been Christians. From the Crusades to the Reformation, from the genocide of Native Americans to African chattel slavery, Christians have engaged in genuine persecution of other people based upon their belief that God chose them to rule over others.
Let me leave you with two quotes, one from the Declaration of Independence and the other from the Bible.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
“There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus,” the Apostle Paul wrote to the faith community in Galatia ( 3:28).
Right-wing Evangelicals need to accept that the federal government and God do not favor them over others, but that they are equals among other U.S. citizens and the divine global community.
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