There are many reasons to have a bad opinion of Islam and consequently of Muslims today, but here is something positive to offset the negative: a Muslim imam in the UK speaking against the harassment of Christians, saying that the churches should stand up for Christians who are being treated unfairly, and saying that since Britain is historically a Christian country, Muslims in Britain should respect Christians, and not try to insert Sharia law into law and society there. He says that the politically correct establishment and public employees repress Christians in matters where Muslims are accommodated, and this isn’t right.
The imam isn’t speaking about persecution of Christians in Muslim countries, only about repression of Christianity in a historically Christian nation. It is very strange that Christian churches do not defend their own people even in Christian countries, much less Muslim countries. The persecution and repression of Christians does not bode well for people of other religions, and we should all care about this: if not for humanitarian reasons, then for our own sakes.
In the US, the constitution forbids the government from establishing a state religion, favoring one religion above others, or restricting the free exercise of religion in public or private. In practice that would mean religious practices that don’t violate normal law: murder, assault, treason, polygamy, slavery, abuse of children, kidnapping, threats, racketeering, etc, or conspiracy to do those things. Religious beliefs should not be a justification for gross violations of the law. There should be neither government accommodations nor restrictions on religion, and citizens should be free to practice and live their religion without fear of reprisal or legal action for things that aren’t illegal.
