Mrs. Smith, you added Muslim Americans. True, persecuting someone purely for religious beliefs is not correct, unless those beliefs are dangerous to society.
Suppose some religion preached child sacrifice? Would persecuting them be indefensible?
Most average Muslims are probably like everybody else. But the radical anti-western Wahhabists and those who think like them should be definitely beyond the pale of any protection. And yet we see no apparent efforts to stop these people here or anywhere in the west.
They could very well become the NAZIs of tomorrow here, as they are the NAZIs of today in other parts of the world.
I suppose some people could take the lesson from the Holocaust that 'Persecution is justified if "those beliefs are dangerous to society"'.
But they may "very well become the NAZIs of tomorrow here."
You and I will have to keep our eyes out for them won't we?
I've no desire to adopt foreign laws about freedom of conscience. We have the best.
Being an American I don't care what any American believes. Anyone who doesn't break the law can believe what he wants.
Bigots ( including Wahabbis) are free to believe that Moslems or any other religion deserve "persecuting"- however if they act on that belief they'll face "prosecuting".