Religious freedom in America has always been conditioned on fitness for self-governance.

Evidence

Religion is accorded a privileged status in American law and society. Allowing people to practice their faith freely without government interference or private discrimination is a distinctive characteristic of a free society. In practice, however, not all religions have been granted these protections in the United States. Congregants first had to be fit for self-governance to be eligible for religious freedom. Being Protestant and White afforded one the full panoply of individual liberties in American society, while non- Whites and non-Protestants were presumed incapable of self-governance. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 196

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the larger argument that rights in America have been raced since the founding, a thread running through critical race theory and texts like The Half Has Never Been Told.