We who live in the USA (and Israel) are blessed to live in a free and open, diverse and democratic society, where we enjoy, among other things, freedom of religion and speech, as well as equal protection under the law. In the US, the constitution provides for separation of church and state, as well as recognizing our G-d given rights and freedoms. US law expressly prohibits discrimination by reason of race, color, creed, sex, national origin, etc.

Unfortunately, this is an anomalous circumstance in the history of the world, often beset by wars of conquest and empire building, where religion or its analogue of cult-like ideology (such as Nazism or Communism) was used as a political tool to unify some in hatred of others, with the goal of conquering or exterminating them.

It is also all too rare in the modern world, where few societies genuinely enjoy freedoms and rights like those enumerated above in practice. One wonderful exception is Israel, the only true bastion of democracy in the Middle East, where these freedoms and rights are enjoyed by all of its diverse citizenry.