Religious Discrimination 101

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-susan-russell/religious-discrimination_b_5662632.html

Rev. Susan Russell Become a fan
Episcopal priest and activist from Pasadena, Calif.

Posted: 08/08/2014 2:10 pm EDT Updated: 08/08/2014 2:59 pm EDT Print Article

Religious discrimination is a real thing.

In this very moment it is a tragically real and present danger to thousands of Yazidi people who have been targeted for extermination by ISIS -- the terrorist group called "too radical for Al-Qaeda" -- because of their ancient religious beliefs.

History -- both modern and ancient -- is likewise tragically full of examples of times and places where religious discrimination has been the source of persecution, death and destruction. The perversion of religion into a weapon of mass destruction is antithetical to the core beliefs of all the world's great religions. And yet none of those religions have escaped the sad reality that human beings -- given the power to do so -- will use God as an excuse to inflict pain and suffering on other human beings.

Our forefathers knew that. And they brought that knowledge -- that wisdom -- into our Bill of Rights with a First Amendment that begins: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..."

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