What is religious extremism? From evidence and experience it is forceful and often violent ways to convert citizens to the desperate person's or group's religion.
What can we do to prevent and defeat it in our nation? We can learn, teach & enforce the first amendment and better understand what the founding fathers meant when it came to specifically the first thing mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.

​"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..." Shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion... So far we've passed religious laws respecting Christian & Muslim beliefs.  [Source]
In the source above is also an example of when government allows religious extremists to punish others for being or doing something against their personal religion. This possible misjudgment of character could punish innocent lives, it could be in the form of refusal of service (sometimes empowering), products (sometimes life saving), security (always both). Some people justify these actions by saying the USA is a Christian Nation. Yet, if we are a Christian Nation, then we are not a free nation and if we are a free nation, then we are not a Christian nation. We cannot be both.  An example is what happened to Iraq after changing it's political status from a free nation to an Islamic one or what happened to the Philippines from a once Islamic nation to a Christian one. These nations suffer from religious extremism and what they have in common is unfortunately low quality of life. This is because everything works out and can be figured out with facts n. something that has actual existence, such as evidence and experience, not by religious ideas. Ask any good detective, and you'll find out that's exactly what's needed to crack cases, every single one of them. For arguments sake though, let's take certain religious quotes, such as, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets..." this was based on fact based solutions of our ancestors, making it into law has worked out for our betterment simply because it is a fact in our world. Funny thing is, this is said in about 8 other religions. Just because they were right about a few things, does that mean we should force all those religions on people? Absolutely not. My favorite thing about freedom of religion is it gave me the opportunity to learn about all the religions and pick from each one and refuse others. I was allowed to question everything I once believed in to learn and grow out of terrible situations. In extremely religious communities in the US, my questions had been unanswered, hidden, and stifled. Removing myself from these environments was truly my first break into freedom. Living in areas that were more secular in their governance made me more successful and aware in choosing what was right for me. Isn't that what every good parent wants is seeing their children happy and free? Can't that be applied to an all loving God? 
​Let's take a look at not only what the founding fathers said but also what they did to defeat religious extremism in their colonies. "Both (Thomas) Jefferson and fellow Virginian James Madison felt that state support for a particular religion or for any religion was improper. They argued that compelling citizens to support through taxation a faith they did not follow violated their natural right to religious liberty. The two were aided in their fight for disestablishment by the Baptists, Presbyterians, Quakers, and other “dissenting” faiths of Anglican Virginia." [Source]
Again, they did not want to support a faith in their politics because people of different faiths would have to be forced to support not their faith with their tax dollars. Sound familiar? So the question is, did our founding fathers want our government to remain secular? A resounding YES. They came from a Christian Nation, Great Britain, at that time. They did not want to live in a Christian Nation anymore when during that time the church murdered & tortured hundreds of thousands of women for "witchcraft", creating unbelievable terror throughout Europe for centuries.
​[More essential reasons here]

“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."
James Madison
[Letter objecting to the use of government land for churches, 1803]

Below we have an example of religious extremism in laws.
​Neil Patrick Harris' 5x great grandmother was killed by Germany's officials during the witch hunt hysteria. 
Blaming her for what we now call Hoof & mouth disease.
If we continue and start to enforce that all hearsay is removed as evidence and only facts remain when solving any and all cases to create better policy and law, we can prevent death and destruction of lives to better become a free nation.

Starting at 9:50 is the likely explanation of the State mass murder of innocents in Salem, MA during the Salem Witch Trials "...Valued repentance over truth."

The search is not over. Please continue to research the truth as there are plenty of real life examples to learn from. You can view situations as if it were you, learn about religious led countries and how that affects their quality of life, support fantastic nonprofits that prevent and undo the damages of religious laws. The more you make decisions based on the truth, the more success you will have on your journey.
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