A new study by two sociologists shows that anti-Christian hostility is on the rise in the United States and that a group of “elites” in areas such as higher education shows the greatest hate toward Christians.

George Yancey, professor of sociology at the University of North Texas told the Christian Post that Christians are fortunate those with anti-Christian hate are small in number but a concern because they can influence important areas of society.

Yancey said that one of the biggest problems with these anti-Christianists is that they are unable to see their bigotry and hatred toward Christians.

“I consistently saw evidence of Christianophobia in other areas of my life and in our society, unlike other types of intolerances, those who exhibited Christianophobia do not tend to think that they are intolerant,” Yancey said.  “Usually those who do not like blacks or Muslims admit that they are intolerant but simply try to justify their intolerance. Those with Christianophobia tend to deny that they are intolerant but rather that they are fairly interpreting social reality. Envisioning themselves as fair and free of intolerance allows them to blame those they detest rather than recognize how their emotions have distorted their intellectual judgments.”

He said the majority of those who exhibit the greatest levels of Christianophobia are those who self-describe as “liberal” or “progressive” and look down on those who profess faith.

“In the minds of many of the respondents Christians are ignorant, intolerant and stupid individuals who are unable to think for themselves. The general image they have of Christians is that they are a backward, non-critical thinking, child-like people who do not like science and want to interfere with the lives of everyone else,” Yancey stated.