America's founding promise of religious freedom has long coexisted with prejudice

NEW YORK - EntSun -- David Mislin, Temple University, Masjid Al Amal

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its independence, old questions have returned about who belongs and whose religious practices are truly protected in the country.

At the start of the year, an arson attack significantly damaged the oldest synagogue in Mississippi. Two days later, local officials in Oklahoma rejected a proposal to build a mosque after opponents declared Islam "hostile to our Constitution." A Texas GOP congressman complained on social media that a Hindu festival was a "third world" practice. These incidents come amid resurgent claims that the United States is a Christian nation.

All this has happened even as President Donald Trump has emphasized a particular idea of religious liberty throughout his second term. In his proclamation for Religious Freedom Day in 2026, he emphasized familiar ideas of Americans' "God-given right to practice their faith, follow their conscience, and worship their God freely and without fear." But the statement also seemed to reflect a broader project of lending government support to Christianity. The proclamation linked support for religious liberty with projects to eliminate "anti-Christian bias."

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The tension between embracing religious liberty and the marginalization of other religions in favor of Christianity is not new. As a historian of U.S. religion, I recognize that ideals of religious freedom have long coexisted with religious discrimination or outright bigotry. Importantly, however, history also offers a lesson for the present by showing the important role U.S. Christians have played in combating such bigotry.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/allah-ruh-quran-yaahuwa-the-reconciler/1150408577?ean=2940185305522

Religious Freedom in Theory

As the founders built a new nation, many emphasized the importance of religious liberty. Shortly after independence in 1776, Thomas Jefferson began drafting the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. When enacted a decade later, the law declared that Virginians' "civil rights" did not depend on their "religious opinions." Civic participation was not limited to members of particular traditions, and there was no state-funded church. The law was a foundational step to prevent government from discriminating against citizens on the basis of their beliefs.

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https://theconversation.com/americas-founding-p...