[starfish923]

But then throw in the fact that their ideology leads them to wage war against other states and their religions, subjugate others, and generally cause violent trouble for everyone else, therefore I have political problems with them as well. Problems I don't have with say, the Hindus or the Sikhs.

Pardon my interruption.
About the Sikhs.

We have several largish communities of Sikhs here in California. An interesting "issue" came up with them several years ago.

When the mandatory helmet law for motorcycles came into being, the Sikhs protested VEHEMENTLY because the men could NOT wear their turbans with a motorcycle helmet.
Harhar, you can IMAGINE the jokes and cartoons that came out with THAT.

The Sikhs insisted that their turbans were more important than helmets and they based their premise, of course, on "freedom of religion."
Safety won over "freedom of religion.

Later on, these same Sikhs had a problem with their knife-carrying religious law. Their children were disallowed wearing them to school.
I can't remember exactly HOW that was settled. I think it came down to enormous nitpicking about the size if the knife. I THINK that a 2" knife was jewelry and something larger was a weapon.
We can all laugh about it now, but it wasn't funny then to the Sikhs or anyone else.

Caveat emptor regarding Hindus and Sikhs.
After the Christians (2 billion), the Hindus (1 billion) and the Muslims (1 billion), the Sikhs are next as the world largest religion with 40 million.

[Conservative til I die]

Nothing the Sikhs said or did in those two instances contradicts my point. There's nothing wrong with a Sikh protesting helmet or knife laws if they're trying to protect their religion. To me that doesn't mean that they're making trouble, anymore than a Catholic hospital protesting a state law mandating they carry birth control does.

Let's face it, if they're was true freedom of religion, our Sikh friends would be able to carry their knives with them and ride their motorcycles without a helmet. But the law does interfere with most religions to some degree. Us Christians, living in a historically Christian company, generally see less of this than newer religions to this country.