@EarnestEccentric It seems to me that well-meaning progressives and liberal (in the classical sense of the term) minded folks like myself, have bent over backwards in an attempt to be accommodating, only to see what we knew as a secular society begin to fade, as religion keeps putting a larger foot in the door.

Perhaps we have failed to make the distinction between the believer and the belief itself. The Constitution protects the right of an individual to hold a belief. We are not (at present) a society that would seek to impose mind control. That right does not extend to the the belief itself, however, no matter how cherished or dear it might be.

Beliefs need to be detached from believers, put out on a virtual table for all of us to examine, and to discuss the relative merits and weaknesses of each belief, so that we may then decide for ourselves whether or not the belief deserves respect.