Americans like to think that the USA is a bastion of religious freedom, standing alone and righteous on principles by which our nation was founded.  However, the prejudice against Muslims is just a continuation of the national pastime of suspicion of those different from us.

Truth be known, there is not one sect that has not been the target of religious injustice in “Christian” America. From the Animism of the Native Americans, to the Catholicism of the Spanish explorers, to the infighting among various Protestant sects, including French Huguenots who came to America in 1564 seeking religious freedom, our history is full of religious strife.

In the 1600s, the Pilgrims and Puritans settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, escaping religious tyranny in England. However, the founders of this theocracy had zero tolerance for religious or political dissent.  Boston was Puritan from founding. There was no room at the table for Catholics, also know as Papists, and other non-Puritans. In just two years,  four Quakers were hanged for standing up for their beliefs.

The colonial era was marked by discrimination in property and voting rights for French and Spanish Catholics.  After independence, states had differing laws for Catholics. In Massachusetts, only Christians could hold office; Catholics could only if they renounced their religion. New York banned all Catholics from office.

Maryland allowed Catholics full civil rights, but Jews had none. To hold office in Delaware, you had to affirm belief in the Trinity (God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit).  Future president James Madison was the first of our forefathers to advocate for a separation of church and state.Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson tried to give rights to all religions.

In 1786, the Virginia Act for Establishing Religion, loosely based upon Jefferson’s ideas passed into law. He considered this law one of his life’s great accomplishments as it provided

. . .within the mantle of protection, the Jew, the Gentile, the Christian, the Mahometan [sic], the Hindoo [sic], and Infidel of every denomination . . .

Of course, women, blacks and other demographics groups would not be granted religious freedoms or civil rights  for many years.

Please think on this and open your heart to everyone you might meet.  Variety is the true spice of life and you are eating plain vanilla without other cultures.