>Basically, society has judged that deeply held religious beliefs are more worthy of protection than mere personal preferences.

Sounds like a deep religious belief which have no written support in the current laws or the Constitution of USA.

Of course there are successful cases of lobbying for a privilege like the one you mentioned - an especially funny one considering that the churches were the main driving force behind the Prohibition, yet carved out an exception for themselves.

"Sounds like a deep religious belief which have no written support in the current laws or the Constitution of USA."

Actually, the US Constitution prevents the government from establishing an official religion or from prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Federal law extends this protection of religion into the commercial sphere by preventing employers from discriminating on the basis of religion (unless it is a religious organization, or the employee's religion would somehow interfere with the job).

"an especially funny one considering that the churches were the main driving force behind the Prohibition, yet carved out an exception for themselves."

Prohibition is an interesting case, as it was actually one religious group (low-church Protestants) lobbying for it over the objections of another (Catholics and some high-church Protestants).

yes, the law prevents anybody from interfering into your personal religious beliefs or from making various economic, social, political, etc... decisions based on your religion. Ie. you're guaranteed to have the same rights as anybody else. Nothing in the law guarantees you preferential treatment or more rights just because of your religious beliefs or practice.

That's not the case. As a matter of law, actions undertaken for religious reasons are more protected than actions undertaken for mere personal preference. You may disagree with this approach, but that's a different question.