Many of the early colonizers came here to escape Catholicism

Not even a little bit…

They were religious extremists mad that the dominant European sects of Christianity wouldn’t force everyone to follow their more rigid rules.

The only “persecution” they escaped was not being able to force their rules on everyone else. So they came here where they could be a majority, and 200 some years later America is still more repressed because of it.

You’re repeating the fairytale version kids get taught in elementary, not what happened