American religious freedom has historically been reserved for White Christians

Evidence

Even more than Catholicism and Judaism, Islam has historically been depicted as uncivilized, illiberal, and despotic. During the colonial era many Americans did not recognize Islam as a legitimate religion, considering it instead a false ideology followed by savages in Africa and the Orient. This theme reemerged in the post-9/11 era to justify excluding Muslims from American religious freedom norms. Despite American school lessons on the sanctity of religious freedom, deporting, prosecuting, and discriminating against Muslims is part of a long history of nativism that reserves the full exercise of religious freedom for White Christians. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 482

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader sociology of American nativism and racialized religion — parallels the racialization of Catholics/Jews/Mormons documented in the chapter’s own prior two chapters. — connects to: White Christian churches constructed the American project protecting white supremacy — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 30; Christian theology and institutions served as the central support for American white supremacy — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 32; White Christianity’s function was protecting white racial innocence — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 69 (+2 more)
• CANDY: The irony that school lessons on religious freedom coexist with deporting Muslims is a compact elevator-conversation fact.
• ADDENDUM: Relevant to ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ — both trace Western exclusionary religious-cultural gatekeeping against a racialized Other (Islamic dress there, Islam’s illegitimacy here).
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 482