I imagine nearly all of you have heard about Karen Davis, the county clerk in Kentucky who claims she is the victim of religious persecution because the courts require her to issue marriages to gay couples.

You may not have heard about Asma Jama. She was with her family at a suburban Applebee’s in Minnesota about a month ago when the woman at the next table smashed a heavy beer mug in her face.

The reason? Ms. Jama and her female companions were wearing head scarves, as Muslim women often do. In addition, the family was conversing in Swahili, an African language common on the east coast of Africa with a vocabulary that includes many Arabic words.

Ms. Jama was born in Somalia, Muslim country, but her family moved to Kenya when she was young. She was educated in both English and Swahili in Kenya, but says English was the first language she spoke. She came to this country in 2000 when she was 22 to be with family and attend college.

The altercation began with the attacker and her husband loudly objecting to their speaking Swahili and demanding that Jama and her group “go home.” It escalated into a loud argument, and the managers of the restaurant were moving to eject the other woman when she threw her drink at Jama and then hit her with a round-house punch with the beer mug. Ms. Jama required 17 stitches and will likely be permanently scarred.

OK now, which of those women, Ms. Davis or Ms. Jama was facing real religious persecution? Further, which one was a terrorist?

Happily, other diners came to Ms. Jama’s aid, and the attacker, who has a history of assault, theft and drinking problems, was arrested. The whole incident could be written off as the actions of a single violent bigot.

Unfortunately, though, this sort of religious bigotry is growing in America, and sadly, it has become apparent that many Americans are ready to toss “Freedom of Religion” clause out of the Bill of Rights, at least as it concerns Muslims. Fear of terrorism and the so-called “Islamic State” are prompting calls for laws depriving Muslims of the right to freely exercise their religion. Some believe practicing Islam should be illegal.

It’s bad enough that such calls are coming from people like Ms. Jama’s attacker. What’s worse is several candidates for president are engaged in fear-mongering about Muslims, making false accusations and proposing limitations on, not only their right to worship as they choose, but on their other civil rights as well.

Donald Trump talks of thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering the 9/11 attacks, a charge that he cannot prove and that has been debunked by watchdog groups. Ted Cruz warns against the establishment of Sharia Law; Ben Carson has said admitting Syrian refugees would be like admitting rabid dogs; and Jeb Bush has said only Christian Syrian refugees should be admitted.

Trump, Carson, and Marco Rubio, have all talked of taking unconstitutional steps against Muslims. They have proposed closing mosques, thereby violating the First Amendment right of free exercise of one’s religion, and banning Muslims from running for president in violation of the Constitution’s dictate that there will be no religious test for holding public office. Rubio has even talked about closing down some Muslim businesses where Muslims might gather, such as restaurants. John Kasich has talked of violating the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause by establishing a federal commission charged with spreading Judeo-Christian values. Then there is Rand Paul, supposedly a libertarian, who has raised alarms about government surveillance of Americans, but makes an exception for Muslims, who, he says, require more surveillance, with or without probable cause.

I suppose we could dismiss this pandering to the fears of Americans as simply campaign rhetoric, but they are promoting bigotry that violates our basic beliefs as a nation and we should fear such bigotry from our leaders.

Historically, Americans have often been driven by fear and bigotry. Catholics were once persecuted because they recognized the authority of the Pope, as were immigrants from Eastern Europe because some of them were Socialists or, worse, Communists. In the 1940s, Japanese-Americans were placed in guarded camps for fear they were spies, and the government was slow to admit Jewish refugees fleeing extermination by the Nazis for fear that Germany was coercing them to serve as spies.

And now it’s Muslims, who we fear must be terrorists because some Muslims have committed unspeakable acts. And so some of us believe we cannot do the right thing, the decent thing, for tens of thousands of families whose fear of terror and persecution is not imagined or theoretical, but real and immediate; families who are taking great risks to save their children from the terror of radical Islam and the horror of civil war.

Not long ago, photos of a 3-year-old boy’s body that had washed up on a Lebanon beach caught the attention of the world. His family had been fleeing Syria for Europe when the boat they were in capsized. Only the father was saved, and once his family was gone, he had no desire to become a refugee. Instead, he returned to Syria to help others escape the killing. I think he represents the vast majority of refugees, and few, if any, are potential terrorists.

America is a great nation, and great nations do not abandon their principles out of fear. We take pride in the liberty we all enjoy and often speak of ourselves as “a city on the hill” that draws those who wish that liberty for themselves.

But when those seeking to lead us talk of taking away one of our basic freedoms and promise to deny access to liberty from those seeking refuge from tyranny and cruelty, the lights of that city dim, liberty becomes an empty promise and we have nothing to be proud of.

If we are, in truth, the “land of the free,” we cannot allow freedom to be destroyed by bigotry and fear. I fervently hope that we as a nation can set fear aside and do what’s right, because if we can’t, our freedom is in danger, not from Muslim terrorists, but from ourselves.