I heard somewhere that the two things you should never talk about in public are: religion and politics. Who made up that rule? A bunch of communists? From my interpretation, those two things are the foundation of the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The first amendment is a wonderful right with which each of us has been endowed by our creator. We also must remember that the tongue can be as a two-edged sward. Great good has come from the freedom to speak as we please, but a lot of damage has been caused as well. Once something leaves our lips, or is posted or published to the world, it can never be taken back.
I have an issue with the phrase, "Separation of Church and State." That phrase seems to have been morphed into "Separation of Religion FROM State." How have we interpreted the first amendment to mean that the ten commandments cannot be posted at courts of law, or that to even say the word "God" in a public school is an offense worthy of expulsion?
I heard a stat somewhere stating that 88% of Americans believe in a God. Somehow, in an effort to not "offend" the 12% that are atheists, we have tried to remove God from our vocabularies and from all public buildings.
Friends, the first amendment was created so that the church's could not take over the government. Don't be afraid to believe in God and don't be afraid to talk about it. Prayers are our way of giving thanks to Him who gave us life.
We must be careful who we try to silence. If we try to silence those who disagree with us, what will happen when the power lies with those with whom we disagree. While some speech may be hurtful or offensive, we must acknowledge those individuals rights to speak their mind. We can certainly disagree but must never turn to violent or destructive behavior.
What do you think about the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
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You should write a book
ReplyDeleteAgain, a great post Adam. This is the basic gist of the amendment,
ReplyDelete"The amendment prohibits the making of any law "respecting an establishment of religion", impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances."
For some reason, I think when people read this, it comes out like this,
"The amendment prohibits the act, or thought of, openly talking about religion, because the free exercise of religion infringes on the freedom of speech, infringes on the freedom of the press, interferes with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibits the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances."
I think you get my point. I agree Mainer, this is the fundamental principle upon which our country was founded, and it gets thrown under the bus every day.