The 1st Amendment only protects your right to free speech, as it pertains to the federal government. You can't be prosecuted for speaking your mind about that institution.
Private institutions are entirely another matter. If your employer doesn't like the things you say, they have the right to terminate their relationship with you (and vise versa).
Now, whether that makes good business sense or not, is another question. In this particular case, it was completely boneheaded of A&E to fire Phil Robertson for what he said.
Unless you are a bakery owner or photographer or. . .
Not totally true. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects religious speech from interfering in the employee/employer relationship. Just as homosexuality and race are protected classes in employment so is religion. Phil could plausibly argue that A&E terminated him because of his religious beliefs and his speaking about them.
Personally, I think an employer should be able to hire and fire anyone they please for whatever reason or no reason but that is not the law.
Everything is not about Constitutional rights. The Constitution exists to define how we interrelate with the government we created. Remember, our rights are given to us by God. No human has the right to take those away.
What we are dealing with here is attempted cultural tyranny. We have not lost any right to speak, but too many Americans have silenced themselves because of cowardice.
It’s as simple with dealing with a schoolyard bully. We need to stand up to those who threaten us, or we give them our power.
We don’t have free speech in any meaningful sense in that case. Almost all our life takes place within private contracts or can affect those private contracts.
Maybe we should stop pretending we have free speech.
I’m sorry you feel that way about the First Amendment but I will stand by the Robertson family who clearly understands that Phil’s First Amendment Rights are being violated by A&E.
In case you missed it. This is what the family said about Phil and the First Amendment.
“We are disappointed that Phil has been placed on hiatus for expressing his faith, which is his constitutionally protected right.”