Crash Course on the First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Simply put, the First Amendment prevents the establishment of a national religion, or a state church. It is NOT illegal or unconstitutional to talk about faith in the public square, which includes schools or any other civil establishment. It is our Constitutional right to be able to express thoughts about faith given that the First Amendment actually guarantees protection of freedom of speech. It is ironic that those who decry “separation of church and state” or “separation of church and public schools” attempting to use the First Amendment do so not only without any Constitutional backing but also by attempting to suppress the very freedom of speech that the Amendment protects. I realize full well that there are various nuances of interpretation as well as decades of judicial precedent that courts have accumulated over the years, but it still all comes back to what is very clearly stated in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Know your rights, know your freedoms, and above all, do not be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
posted by John M. Hanna @ 10:11 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Very well put, Pastor John. There are those of us that have been falsely accused and sent to jail, almost to prison. We have the best system in the World. I have a very important, yet albeit story. But nowadays some of those rights are tied to the almighty dollar, I cannot afford to hire an attorney, that is if I could actually find one that believed in the truth and fairness. Mine is but one many that needs to be heard. I have no money , no connections or influence to peddle. I just know that when I eercised my first amendment rights, I almost went to prison. My father saw action in 3 wars and almost died defending our right to free speech. He would be heartbroken how corrupt even the judicial sytem has become. When he died his last words were I am so afraid of how my little girl is going to be treated. Followed by give them you know what. If you are not makin someone think outside the box, you are not doing your job.
I applaud you for researching the law regarding the First Amendment. You are correct to observe there is much ignorance and misunderstanding about the subject. Some--on both "sides"--sometimes suggest that the principle of separation of church and state aims to purge religion from the public square. Far from it. Indeed, the First Amendment’s “free exercise” clause assures that each individual is free to exercise and express his or her religious views–publicly as well as privately. The First Amendment’s “establishment” clause constrains only the government not to promote or otherwise take steps toward establishment of religion. As government can only act through the individuals comprising its ranks, when those individuals are performing their official duties (e.g., public school teachers instructing students in their classrooms), they effectively are the government and thus should conduct themselves in accordance with the First Amendment’s constraints on government. When acting in their individual capacities, they are free to exercise their religions as they please. If their right to free exercise of religion extended even to their discharge of their official responsibilities, however, the First Amendment constraints on government establishment of religion would be eviscerated. While figuring out whether someone is acting in an official or private capacity in any given circumstance can be complex, recognizing the distinction is critical.
Wake Forest University recently published a short, objective Q&A primer on the current law of separation of church and state–as applied by the courts rather than as caricatured in the blogosphere. I commend it to you. http://tiny.cc/6nnnx
You are right in your assessment. As far as I undeerstand it, when they originally wrote about the "establishment of religion," they had in mind the land they had come from -- England. They wanted nothing to do with the English way of life, and that included the "Church of England," a religion set up, endorsed and "ordained" by the king -- a puppet system of beliefs that allowed the king to change the tenets and beliefs when it suited him. They also were aware of the Catholic religion, with its kingly treatment of the popes, and they were unwilling to place THAT type of burden upon the fledgling states. The country was also fighting for its survival at the time. Kind of like we are now, except the enemies are different.
I believe that the line upon which the "separation of church and state" is based comes from Jefferson's writings, or the Federalist Papers, I am not sure. I do know that it doesn't appear ANYWHERE in the Constitution or the Bill Of Rights.
Thank you, John. keep up the work you do, and like I told you, remember that if your job as a pastor was easy, everyone would want to do it.
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