America is richer, stronger—and more religious—because of our religious freedom and the diversity the Constitution has protected.

I grew up in a country town in Mississippi that was almost entirely Christian. It was on the train going off to college for my freshman year that I met a young Jewish woman going to the same place. It happened, I now think, as an act of God, that the college had placed us across the hall from one another in the dormitory.

She became my first friend from another faith and our relationship changed me. I did not understand then why some sororities would not consider her for membership; she was attractive, smart, all the criteria the sisterhood was looking for. But as she said to me, “they don’t want me because I am a Jew.”

Until then religious prejudice was an abstract concept for me as my world was so limited. And I can’t understand why some people today still judge her by her religion instead of for the wonderful person she is.

My own family is now interfaith. My daughter converted to Judaism and my granddaughters are being raised in that faith. We will celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. I will always be grateful for Susie who, 50 years ago, loved me even though I was Christian not Jewish. In her accepting me, I learned to love her. Now I have a fabulous son-in-law who loves me, too. How spectacular is that?

In my work in the Episcopal Church and now as an advisor to The Interfaith Alliance, I have had the privilege of working with and learning from my interaction with not only Jews, but Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, and members of other religions. All these women and men have enriched my life and my own faith as a Christian bishop has been strengthened, never diminished.

We are a nation where many faiths must have the freedom to thrive. Each of us must be careful to protect that gift those wise men gave us when they wrote the Constitution.