The "invisible knapsack" in action

From the Herald:

An Auckland woman is offended that Cabinet minister Phil Goff sent her a letter wishing her a happy Diwali when she is neither Indian nor Hindu.

Well, now she knows how those who are not Christian might feel when sent a letter wishing them a merry Christmas. But its clear from what follows that that thought would simply never occur to her:

Ms Chandra, who did not want her age or other details published, accused Mr Goff of "cheap political scoring" and said she was offended by the letter because it singled out one ethnic group for special treatment.

"He didn't treat all races the same ... It's reverse discrimination."

So, celebrating or mentioning the holidays of any religion other than the dominant one is some sort of privilege or "special treatment". Meanwhile, its not even Halloween, and shops are already sticking up their Christmas decorations - but this isn't any sort of "privilege" or "special treatment" - it's just assumed to be the natural, baseline state of affairs.

This story is a perfect example of the "invisible knapsack" in action. Originally applied to race and white privilege, there is also an invisible knapsack for Christians of unstated and undeserved privilege. The knapsack is smaller here - we are a far more religiously diverse and culturally tolerant society than the US, where these articles originated - but the fact that this story was even published rather than dismissed because people make assumptions and mistakes about religion all the time speaks to the fact that there are still some privileges in it. Mistakenly assuming for stupid reasons someone is Christian (as will happen to pretty much everyone over the next few months) is not news; mistakenly assuming (for similarly stupid reasons) that someone is not Christian shouldn't be either.