I think it would make an interesting topic for another essay (this one was over 2000 words already, so I had to leave several ideas only partially fleshed out).

But if I had to sum it up I'd say I think people need this thing we're calling "dignity" or "personlichkeit" or what have you, and if a precise analog doesn't exist in the cultural and legal tradition of their society, they'll reach for the nearest thing.

In America's case that's the idea of being discriminated against. Because that also involves a loss of dignity, a negation of one's personhood to some extent.

And I think that for white people who aren't a protected racial category, they've responded to this need by invoking discrimination on the basis of religion.

I don't think it's any coincidence that for conservative Americans, Christianity has come to be more and more a vehicle for white racial and cultural identification, just at the same time that racial minorities, women, and sexual minorities have won more and more recognition for their rights.