We talk about religious freedom like it is a natural plot point in the moral arc of history — indeed, we are here because Christian nonconformists were willing to die to build the “city upon a hill” —and thus every person born or living on this land must know how to do it. In my opinion, that’s simply not true.

First, it belies our real story. We rarely talk about state-sponsored hangings of Quakers by Puritans in Massachusetts, mandatory Anglican church membership in Virginia to vote, or the countless religious justifications for massacring Native Americans and enslaved Africans. The reality is that while our founders left in search of religious liberty, they were not particularly good at creating it, nor humble in offering it.

We have a tendency as Americans to reduce religious freedom to a set of laws or even a single amendment. While laws regulating our government’s treatment of religion are imperative (and hard enough to balance with other rights), they are not the whole story. They create a framework for coexistence, but not for fellowship.

To achieve the latter, we must also treat religious freedom as a practice. Indeed, in an ideal state, it is a lived experience for those with and without the power of hegemony.