The only thing worse than having one’s freedom stolen is being duped into giving it up. This presidential election season, both candidates endanger Americans’ freedom of conscience. The Republican candidate, Donald J. Trump, and the Democratic candidate, Hillary R. Clinton promise to protect their own orthodoxies by punishing dissenters. This should alarm every American, because how a government treats dissenters is what differentiates democracies from dictatorships. To preserve freedom for future generations, we need to reject both candidates’ dangerous thinking. Instead, we should choose to honor the consciences of all, especially those with whom we disagree.

The genius of the First Amendment is that it gives the individual both an offense and a defense. The Free Exercise Clause recognizes a person’s right to actively live out their religious beliefs—an offense. The Establishment Clause recognizes a person’s need to be free from government imposition of religion—a defense. Restraint on our government’s ability to establish orthodoxy protects our right to dissent. It ensures that we can to be true to our own consciences. As any imprisoned dissident can attest, one man’s orthodoxy is another’s blasphemy. However, both Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton are too eager to punish dissenters from their own orthodoxies.