Our Wonderful Bill of Rights: The First Amendment
Our United States Constitution Guarantees Freedom of Religion, Not Freedom from Religion
It was to "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" that our Founding Fathers adopted the United States Constitution in 1787. The Bill of Rights was added in 1791. These first ten Amendments to the Constitution list many - but not all - of our "unalienable rights" and prohibit the federal government from infringing upon them.
The First Amendment states, "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." It is quite clear from the historical record that our Founding Fathers intended to encourage religion, not discourage it, and that they simply wanted to ensure that the power of the federal government would never be used to favor one denomination over another. The Northwest Ordinance, approved by Congress in the same year as the Constitution, specifically calls for the encouragement of "schools and the means of education" in order to promote "religion, morality, and knowledge," which are said to be necessary to "good government and the happiness of mankind." In his Farewell Address, the Father of our Country and our first President, George Washington, declared "religion and morality" to be "indispensable supports" leading to "political prosperity."
The First Amendment does indeed prohibit an establishment of religion, but it does not prohibit the encouragement of religious belief and morality.
Published by F.R.
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- The Supreme Court has done nothing to curtail the promotion of secular humanism in public schools.
- The U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1787. The Bill of Rights was added in 1791.
- The 9th and 10th Amendments reserve all unenumerated rights to the States and the People.
4 Comments
Post a CommentWhose religion is going to be taught in public schools funded by taxpaying citizens of many faiths? It is parents and their chosen religion's job to teach children about their religion; it is public schools jobs to teach children the basic's "raading and writing and 'rithmetic". That is actually a parent's job too. Religious Study Groups or General Religion classes in public schools are okay. Knowledge includes learning about other cultures (italics) and religions. Students may want to socialize with others of a common bond, such as a German/American Club, which would not be much different than a Muslim, Hebrew, Christian or faith based group.
I agree F.R. Religion- "a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects." Also, "the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices."(Webster's College Dictionary)
If what you believe guide your thinking and the way you live, that's your religion, no matter what name you give it, Humanism, Atheism, Scientology, Christianity, etc...
The First Amendment protects the churches from the State. It prohibits the establishment of a State church or national religion -- and that includes secular humanism, which WAS recognized as a kind of religion in at least one Court decision. (At the time of the revolution, England WAS a theocratic state.)
Secular Humanism is not a religion, and any honest reading of the Federalist Papers or the lives of the Founding Fathers will show that the goal was to separate the functions of the state from the functions of religion so as to avoid violence and rebellion--the exact kind of violence and rebellion that you see in theocratic states where prayer is required in school and religion is tied up with government. You don't think Afghanistan became a hot bed of terrorism because their government adapted a secular stance do you? Didn't think so.