What stereotypes would be associated with Christians if they were a minority in Europe?

A good example would be to look at the anti-Christian stereotypes under the Eastern Bloc and transpose from there.

It would be similar to anti-Judaism with references to internationalism and conspiracy.
 
A good example would be to look at the anti-Christian stereotypes under the Eastern Bloc and transpose from there.

It would be similar to anti-Judaism with references to internationalism and conspiracy.

That might work if most Christians were Catholic - they bow to a foreign emperor, etc.

If you had a diverse set of Christianity - either multiple Protestant sectssects (ie post Reformation POD), orvan early POD where Arians/Gnostics/Nestorians survived it might look more like Islamophobia in the West. The Christophobes wouldn't understand the distinctions.
 
Would this be a roman Europe, a balkanised pagan Europe or an Islamic/other abrahamic Europe?

Unless we are talking about Europe being repaganised some time after the arrival of Islam, Islam itself would be butterflied away, as there would be no Muhammad. Religiously there is really no reason to assume that Europe would become united in the same as in OTL if it had not become Christian, as most other religions were not trying to convert people.

That might work if most Christians were Catholic - they bow to a foreign emperor, etc.

Catholicism as we know it was heavily influenced by the fact that Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
 
IIRC, in the 1001 Arabian Nights, Christian characters were stereotyped as drunkards, since Islam frowns on drinking but Christianity has no strong taboos about it.

Of course, that was in the Islamic world. I doubt a Pagan Europe would care too much about that. They might find the insistence in Monotheism too 'close-minded' and the trinity/christological debates incomprehensible, as the Chinese did when faced with Jesuit missionaries. Also war-like religions would not respect Jesus very much, and if Christianity remains a religion of the urban poor and downtrodden instead of glorious warriors and leaders, it might be associated with cowardice.

But it all depends on what kind of religion becomes dominant instead.

Christians in the Nights were also stereotyped as evil schemers and generally untrustworthy, though it is not universal (tends to apply to "Franks" specifically). There are also stories in which Christianity is associated with what was considered sexual depravation (incest and lesbianism are mentioned but not dominant themes). In general, however, this is all very much context-specific (in some cases, datable to a redactional layer in the aftermath of the Crusades).
 
The way this would likely look is that the Christians spread to roman urban centres, as OTL, but Christianity doesn't gain traction with the Roman Elite. Christians are the middle and low classes of Mediterranean cities. They would likely mostly be craftsmen and ascetics. A lot of good business practices do not fit with Christian ideals, and, being such a small, suppressed group, anyone who would be willing to stray away from Christian values to make money, would likely just convert to the dominant local religion (Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, or (possibly) Islam (paganism would be more prevalent further inland, where there would be almost no Christians)). The majority of them become craftsmen, while some monks travel around and show their devotion to god by hurting themselves or something (kind of like what Fakirs do) or perform "miracles" in an attempt to gain converts. They would be curiosities that people would watch for fun.

Stereotypes that would likely arise:

  • Cannibals, obviously, as OTL
  • They would be seen as "fake" or "two faced", being quiet and meek in public, but eating human flesh and drinking blood in their churches
  • They'd be seen as weaklings who can't defend themselves
  • the ascetic aspect could result in an association of Christianity with masochism
  • Also due to the travelling monks, weird, freaky but occasionally entertaining
  • Again, bc of the ascetics, homeless freeloaders
  • Good enough skilled labourers to be worth tolerating
  • maybe hardworking. There's usually a few positive stereotypes associated with minority groups, no matter how hated they are (ie. black people are happy, strong, first nations people are in tune with nature, Jews are smart, Asians are hardworking, etc.).
  • servile? maybe...
 
Would this be a roman Europe, a balkanised pagan Europe or an Islamic/other abrahamic Europe?

After Constantine the Great's death it was already pretty much impossible mak


A good example would be to look at the anti-Christian stereotypes under the Eastern Bloc and transpose from there.

It would be similar to anti-Judaism with references to internationalism and conspiracy.

Christianity in 20th century was quiet different compared to Chistianity even in 5th century. So we hardly can take some Communist propaganda there.
 
I'd imagine a pagan Europe would perceive a Christian minority as a bunch of creepy zealots, always smiling and trying to recruit you into their weird cannibal-apocalypse cult. If Jews are given leave not to worship pagan gods on account of their covenant, I could see comparisons being drawn between the two along the lines of "those Jews are a weird mob, with their food rules and their monotheism, but at least they don't try and convert people and don't cause trouble, unlike those Christians..."
Early Christians were also quite disruptive and had an unfortunate tendancy to attack pagan temples and holy sites. If they keep this up, or gods forbid radicalise in the *internet age, I could see them being treated as a dangerous cult and watched intently by governments and demonised in the media much like how Islam is in some places OTL.
 
it depends on the scenario. for example if Europe was predominantly Jewish and there was a christian minority (assuming they would't just be genocided away) i could see them taking the roles the Jews did in Europe and becoming money lenders. You would see the Christians having the same greedy jew stereotypes. This could be the same for a Muslim Europe without a Jewish minority to take on the role as money lenders.
The major problem is you can't compare what Christianity became when it was an all empowering religion and its earlier form. if say in a pagan Europe it became to a certain point tolerated but never flourishes. A major change would monasteries never coming about, since there wouldn't be a large enough population to sustain them. I could see the christian asceticism still be a prominent display of the christian faith. the idea that Christians would just quit society and live on a poll. this could become a stereotype for just being crazy, especially with the history of martyrdom. Without ever becoming the dominate religion, i would also assume it would still have its more pacifist nature of earlier Christians and that too could become a stereotype. For a a good example of this would be Quakers.
 
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