[barry-cotter]

Democracy pretty reliably leads to persecution of religious minorities. I’m not aware of any exceptions in the Muslim world but the pattern held in early modern Europe too. Greater popular involvement in government meant the ruling class couldn’t protect useful but unpopular minorities. Thus everyone who isn’t Sunni supporting Assad in Syria. They know that the good outcome of the US winning is getting out alive. Or see the treatment of the Rohingya in Burma or Tamils in Sri Lanka. Absent a commitment to liberalism that requires generations of propaganda work national self-determination is bad news for religious or ethnic minorities.

[LadyCailin]

Please point to a democratic country where people are prohibited from praying five times a day, or are otherwise prohibited from having private religious beliefs? (Religious practices that harm others, or force others to participate, such as ones that require non-consensual subjugation of women don't count.)

[carbadtraingood]

I know in the states, at least, pausing your job to pray could easily get you fired. Is it against the law of the land to fire someone for their religious beliefs? Probably. Do shitty workplaces do it anyways? Almost certainly. If they even hire you in the first place.

Have to fast during Ramadan? Job performance suffers because you aren't eating? Companies will absolutely go out of their way to make you miserable.

You might not be banned from practicing, but you better believe you aren't really protected either.