The USA has had the most deaths from Covid internationally. China has had the least. The USA never had the straight out bans that China had (or South Africa where I was living at the time). The USA still has the greatest number of deaths from Covid.

This is what happens when you give people the right to choose how to respond to things. There will always be different opinions on how one one should or will respond.

Freedom of speech, in terms of the American constition (and everywhere else in the worrld) has nothing to do with being able to say what you like. It is, and always has been, the freedom to speak against the government without being jauiled or executed.

There is no such thing as absolue freedom of speech. If you slander someone, you will be in danger of defamation, and if you lie in court, you will be guilty of perjury, and so it goes.

That said, I take your point that if you ban religion, it affects the freedom to talk about it. I would certainly hope that it bans the right to go around prosylitzing. However, when a government legislates against someithing, it is precise, and I have not mentioned what the precise rules would be. I did not say that people couldn't, in a private conversation discuss their personal beliefs. Personal beliefs are not quite the same thing as a religon.

People are always free to have their personal beliefs and discuss the same thing with friends.

To draw an analogy, it's one thing to talk with a friend about not being happy with the USA government. It's quite another to organise a resurerction. In the same way, it's fine to talk about a belief in god and other weird things. It's quite another thing to organise meetings, build churches, go out and prosyltize, etc. The first is an opinion - the second is a lot more than an opinion.

I also take your point about being culturized. I suppose we could culturize people not to murder as well. I'm just not sure that that would work...