Our ancestors traveled to America to worship freely. They fled the English Civil War and religious conflict on the continent. The greatest example is the Puritans, who escaped the persecution of the King and Church of England. Today, this natural right is still withheld from much of humanity. Besides Islam, adherence to which is forced throughout Asia and Africa, there are numerous cases of modern state religions. The degree of enforcement in each example varies, and this list is not exhaustive:
- Anglicanism in England
- Buddhist in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Bhutan
- Calvinism in Scotland
- Eastern Orthodoxy in Greece, Georgia, and Bulgaria
- Juche in North Korea
- Judaism in Israel
- Lutheranism in Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden
- Methodism in Tonga
- Roman Catholicism in Costa Rica, Malta, Poland and Spain

Compelling individuals to practice or support a single religion leads to oppression and violence everywhere it is tried. However, when our public figures communicate religious sentiments without forcing anyone to agree or participate in ceremonies, nonadherents can hardly claim they are not full members of the American nation. In fact, efforts to purge all expression of religion from public discourse may eventually result in the same subjugation and strife we wanted to avoid in the first place.