My Utopia is a country without religion.

You drive down the landscape of my dreamland without coming across a single church, mosque, synagogue or temple. There is complete freedom from institutions that divide people based on their religious beliefs. Monks, nuns, priests, mullahs — there are none in my dreamland. People congregate free of the labels Muslim, Jew or Christian. There is no box on your passport that specifies religion.

In my Utopia, the overriding belief is unconditional love for one another. Hate and bigotry are considered archaic animal instincts.

All this came to me as I was sitting with a friend on the patio of a restaurant in Scotts Valley, close to the coast, on the Fourth of July.

We live in a man-made world, according to sociologists, but according to believers, we live in a God-made world. I have lived in both those worlds. In Pakistan, where I am from, I would not dare say that I do not believe, for the religious authorities could and would behead me for such a “crime.”

I love the small-town feel in Scotts Valley — it’s a place where strangers approach you as if you have always known them. Tracy also is a small town, but it doesn’t have the same friendly feel.

I’ve learned that the cultural atmosphere of towns can change within 10 exits on the freeway. The Central Valley is known for being conservative, while the adjacent Bay Area is considered one of the most liberal places in the country.

The man who served us at the restaurant proceeded to pick some dog hair off my sleeve, while his friend joked with us that it was his excuse to touch a strange woman. We laughed.

I joked back, saying I make sure I have dog hair on my sleeve so strangers will touch my arm. They told me I was welcome to their town — I fit right in.

The conversation turned to the Fourth of July parade. People were gathering for fireworks, bringing chairs and ice coolers. The man serving us said something about being a right-wing conservative. My friend and I exchanged a look, as I’m known in Tracy for opposing everything right-wing.

I chided him, saying, “Oh no, a Bush fan?” He chided right back, “Obama?” I told him I had worked for the Obama campaign.

Democracy, he said, needs both a right wing and a left wing to stay afloat. I thought that was a good analogy, that in any environment, a balance of power requires freedom of expression of completely opposing opinions.

The U.S. Constitution allows people from all walks of life the right to individual expression and practice, without fear of

reprisal. And the Fourth of July, in essence, celebrates that right, that motto to seek life, liberty and happiness.

In my Utopia, in order to become president, a candidate does not have to justify that he or she goes to church. As an ardent believer, you don’t automatically fit in just because of that fact.

Why not choose to live with more than one individual at the same time without legal contract of marriage? Marriages of the mind, in which I would have two or three or more friends with whom I get along, could all live under the same roof as family without jealousy or the vice of possession. No one would have to change their name to symbolize that they “belonged” to another person or family. A man and a woman could have children together if they wished, without having to justify their children as “legitimate” or “illegitimate.” Men and women would live not as husband or wife but as friends and companions, free to love other people after the initial passion of a one-on-one relationship has evolved into communal responsibility and sharing.

I know, I know.

It was the Fourth of July, the air was tinted with the balm of redwoods from the nearby forests and I was in the company of relaxed intellectuals. My fantasies for a perfect world are just that — fantasies.

But I can dream, can’t I? After all, this is America, and I am an American woman.

• Samina Masood is a four-year resident of Tracy and is among a select group of local Town Crier columnists in the Tracy Press. She is a mother of two who has master’s degrees in both journalism and clinical psychology.