*Debate Club* Protected Classes

One of our esteemed CMs posted a question and wished to see it debated. I think it is an interesting topic for debate:

“Why the **** is religion getting the same protection as race, gender, and sexuality?”

I want to bring this to US society and our laws here.

First off, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides employment protections for religious ideology:

“It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer –

(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin”

https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964

President G.W. Bush’s 2002 Executive order 13279 also enshrines protections for federal funding of religious groups:

“(c) No organization should be discriminated against on the basis of religion or religious belief in the administration or distribution of Federal financial assistance under social service programs;”

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13279

This order however also references the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, noting that religious activities must be separate from secular ones:

“The Federal Government must implement Federal programs in accordance with the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution. Therefore, organizations that engage in inherently religious activities, such as worship, religious instruction, and proselytization, must offer those services separately in time or location from any programs or services supported with direct Federal financial assistance, and participation in any such inherently religious activities must be voluntary for the beneficiaries of the social service program supported with such Federal financial assistance”

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/establishment_clause#

So I ask to you: what aspects of religious belief and action are protected and do you agree with such protections for an ideology?