I disagree that religion should be treated the same way innate qualities like sex or ethnicity are, but it seems clear that until recently, the control religion

I disagree that religion should be treated the same way innate qualities like sex or ethnicity are, but it seems clear that until recently, the control religion had over society meant it was rare for people to leave religions like they do now - so religion becomes a proxy for a group, and the group gets persecuted based on their religion. When people in Northern Ireland burn flags, they’re burning the flag of the Irish Republic, but the people they say they hate are Catholics.