During the early 1600s, many Puritans and Pilgrims fled to New England in hopes of escaping religious persecution due to the intolerance of opposing religious beliefs. After a myriad of long expeditions in search of religious freedom, Rhode Island was discovered as the first colony without any religious restrictions. Rhode Island permitted those who lived there to freely practice their religion. The Fourteenth Amendment extended the freedom of religion to citizens living in other states, prohibiting the establishment of state laws that opposed any one religion from being practiced. This freedom grants citizens the right to freely exercise, live, speak, and act upon their own religious beliefs peacefully without being discriminated against. Citizens are also protected from being treated unfairly in their workplace, school, public establishments, and social events based on their religious background. Although these laws have been instituted into the American political system and many countries have adopted all religions, many minor religious groups are disrespected violently.
Even after a law was enforced, protecting citizens from injustices forced by those opposing their beliefs, violence was still used to change one’s belief in favor of their own. An example that occurred in the past included the Holocaust, which began in 1945. Millions of Jews were persecuted and targeted by an anti-Semitic Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, who believed that Jews were an inferior race. As the Nazis came to power in Germany, many Jews, which included families, children, and women, suffered from persecution and were forced into concentration camps where they were treated inhumanely. Jews were clearly discriminated against as they were forced to wear labels indicating they were Jews, displaying that because they were Jews that they must be treated differently. In addition, Germans and followers of Hitler organized mass killings of all Jews within the concentration camps based on those who were the least useful. Mass transports of bodies were conducted in order to satisfy Hitler and the hatred he had for the Jews, the religion they practiced, their lifestyle, and their beliefs. With laws protecting the freedom of religion of all people, religious discrimination clearly lies prevalent all around the world. Many people are clearly still being stripped of their right to freely exercise their religion without being violently abused. For instance of a current religious discrimination issue, a Christian minority group in South Korea known as Shincheonji has been persecuted for its beliefs, and slandered as a South Korean cult.
With an established law ensuring that all people have their freedom of religion without any government intervention, many people of different religions remain unprotected when practicing their own beliefs. Most people strive to live their life by aligning their beliefs with their lifestyle but if their own basic rights are taken away from them then people would have to live a meaningless life. People are still fighting to this day, risking their life in order to hold onto the one thing that allows for them to represent themselves in their own way. Even with this one protection put in place many people are being abused, treated unethically, and are constantly being criticized for observing, worshipping, and acting in their own way based on their religion.