Christianity is part of our history, language and culture. It's silly to imagine that we can eliminate Christian symbolism from public discourse. At the same time we have to understand that the US has never been dominated by a single variety of religion. We have freedom of religion simply because we do not allow our government to take a side in the conflicts among various sects. We do not believe that government agencies should dictate the forms of prayer nor should they funnel tax money to particular churches in preference to others. This separation of church and state is the basis of our religious freedom and is fundamental to what it means to be American. We, as individuals, have our own beliefs and cannot be neutral with regard to religion but, for us to live and work together, we must insist that our common government strive to be neutral. At the same time, for us to be a single people with shared values, we must respect others' right to their beliefs but that does not mean that we must share those beliefs. "We must respect the other fellow's religion," as H.L. Mencken once wrote, "but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart." Civility may be required but not servility. We are not bound by our neighbor's beliefs. If our neighbor dresses oddly, speaks strangely or has some peculiarity of behavior on account of those beliefs we are not obligated to do the same. Just as our neighbors have a right to their beliefs, we have a right to our own. Tolerance must be mutual if it is to be meaningful at all.
Many sects, given the opportunity, would gladly impose their beliefs on the world. It seems to me that Fundamentalists, Christian and Muslim alike, would like nothing more than to receive special consideration, to dictate what others may believe and say. This special consideration must be repugnant to those whose values are rooted in American tradition and law. In principle, every individual is equal before the law. Every person, in the privacy of his own mind or of a community of like-minded people, has a right to express his own religious beliefs but, once those beliefs become public the rights of others come into play as well. Fair play requires that anyone who publicly states his religious belief should be prepared to listen as others state contrary beliefs. The free expression of opinion is another cornerstone of American ideals and it becomes meaningless if we have to avoid bruising the feelings of the intolerant.
I understand that Muslims are not permitted to portray the prophet and I think I even understand why but, to insist that others, not sharing their belief, also refrain from portraying the prophet is to insist that Islam be privileged above all other religions. This insistence is inconsistent with the mutual respect and fair play required of all those who live in a multi-cultural society. The idea that non-Muslims should abide by Islamic law is especially absurd in a country like the US where a majority of the population identifies, to some degree, with some variety of Christianity. After all, isn't the belief in the divinity of Christ tantamount to the belief that Mohammad was a false prophet?