What Makes a Democrat, Part 2 - Freedom of Religion

 Part 2 - Freedom of Religion

TL;DR: The free expression of Religion is a cornerstone of this country. It's a large part of the reason it was founded, and is critical to keeping it a nation of laws that protect everyone equally.

Also implicit in the law is freedom of *all* religions, and promises that all Government institutions won't favor one religion over any other.

The Constitution states in the First Amendment that:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..."

Religion is deeply personal, and every individual should have the freedom to practice their religion or beliefs as they see fit, so long as it doesn't cause any harm to them or others, and they do not force their beliefs on others.
I should emphasize that for me personally, this applies to individuals. *Not* to employers and certainly not to government offices.

For a little more background -

The United States is not a Christian nation - this article cites that:

"The U.S. Constitution is a wholly secular document. It contains no mention of Christianity or Jesus Christ. In fact, the Constitution refers to religion only twice in the First Amendment, which bars laws "respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," and in Article VI, which prohibits "religious tests" for public office. Both of these provisions are evidence that the country was not founded as officially Christian."

And, in fact, that the Constitution not supporting a specific religion was entirely intentional:

"The Founding Fathers did not create a secular government because they disliked religion. Many were believers themselves. Yet they were well aware of the dangers of church-state union. They had studied and even seen first-hand the difficulties that church-state partnerships spawned in Europe. During the American colonial period, alliances between religion and government produced oppression and tyranny on our own shores."

Not only that, but one of the first treaties ever signed by George Washington, between the new United States and Tripoli, literally says “The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion…”

The reasons why should be obvious - if you're Mormon, imagine your city or state declaring itself Catholic. Technically they're both Christian, but it's hard to see that when all of a sudden the Pope (whoever it may be at the time) can influence the State government directly. 

That's just one example. There are a *lot* of religions out there, and from a neutral perspective they all have just as much claim to being "right."
But, any official government support of any religion over others forces everyone living under that support to either follow that religion, even if it means converting to it, or face state-sanctioned persecution. That is counter to everything this country stands for.

As for the two major parties-

The Democratic party platform of 2020 states that:
"Democrats believe that freedom of religion is a fundamental human right, and we will never use protection of that right as a cover for discrimination. We will reverse the Trump Administration’s politicization of religious freedom in American foreign policy, and we condemn atrocities against religious minorities around the world—from ISIS’ genocide of Christians and Yezidis, to China’s mass internment of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities, to Burma’s persecution of the Rohingya."

The Republican party platform of 2020 mentions religion several times, repeatedly names persecuted Christian groups, but conveniently omits any mention of the Uyghur and Rohingya groups named above. Notably those are Muslim minorities.
Republican policies also have strongly emphasized supporting religion in schools, especially school prayer, and protecting Christian business owners who persecute others based on their personal beliefs. Not to mention rallying to defend a woman who refused to hand out marriage licenses to legally-married gay couples.

As for Trump more specifically, he has repeatedly used religion as a blunt instrument. Not to mention he placed US lives smack in the middle of a religious war by building a US embassy in Jerusalem, and while he regularly talks about Christianity and makes moves to support it over other religions, the most troubling thing about it is he encourages the most extreme elements of Christians in America, and only in ways that serve him staying in office. Not to mention, he's pretty clearly not Christian himself.

In this, Trump is the newest and most extreme example, but the Republican Party has a long history of playing to a devout Christian base, only to keep themselves in power - not to mention being outright antagonistic towards non-Christian religions.

What about the other parties?

The Libertarian party platform states that-
"We support full freedom of expression and oppose government censorship, regulation, or control of communications media and technology. We favor the freedom to engage in or abstain from any religious activities that do not violate the rights of others. We oppose government actions which either aid or attack any religion."

The Green party platform states that-
"The United States Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of religion. We affirm the right of each individual to the exercise of conscience and religion, while maintaining the constitutionally mandated separation of government and religion. We believe that federal, state, and local governments must remain neutral regarding religion."

The Green Party platform also goes considerably farther, including (among other things) returning the Pledge of Allegiance to it's original text, removing the "under God" that was added in 1954 (which I actually support)

And I've ranted enough...