Always be ready to "reset" the Constitution, if needed.
Posted on 01/31/2012 6:03:37 AM PST by Former Fetus
"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."
--The First Amendment
Constitution of the United States
The words are old, the First Amendment having been adopted in 1791 along with the rest of the Bill of Rights. But even today, whenever they're read, the effect is the same. The heart beats just a little faster.
There is a majesty about those words, not just in their grand sweep, but in the fine judgment one can sense behind them. Note the carefully chosen phrases, the balance and comprehension of its language, broad yet focused. It was as if the founders knew they were writing not just for their time but ours, as if they realized they were founding. A new order of the ages, as it still says on the dollar bill.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Doesn’t matter: neither “wall” nor “separation” is in the Constitution.
So does this mean if islam calls for stoning it is permitted under the free exercise clause?
Does this mean if islam calls for muslims to live under shariah law conditions...the government cannot interfere?
I am well aware that if "they come for the muslims" today, then they may "come for the Jews (or the Catholics, or the Protestant)" tomorrow. There is a slippery slope here, no doubt.
But if there are mosques in American where jihadists teach people to make war against America, and if our country defends their right to do so, then we need to recognize that we are on a different kind of slippery slope.
I used to think that freedom of speech and freedom or religion were very simple matters. I've gotten older and, I think, wiser and today I do not think they are quite that simple.
I don’t think Islam is a religion.
Shariah Law is definitely not.
BINGO! All it says is that the government would not “establish” a church.
If you read it carefully and research the origins, you will find that "religion" only refers to Christian religions.
I’ll concede that I had NEVER thought of Islam when talking about the First Amendment. I was wondering what the Founding Fathers would say, then I remembered John Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” I think the word “moral” disqualifies Islam.
BINGO! All it says is that the government would not “establish” a church.
Funny how the dirtbag lawyers and activist "judges" can twist things 180 degrees from what it plainly says through their "interpretation".
Congress is NOT "the states" and the subsequent phrase:
(Congress shall make no law) prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
Is routinely trampled on by the atheist progressives and the courts.
IOW Congress (or government if you're "one of those") can't suppress religion.
The Constitution needs a reset button.
There is nothing in the Constitution which would permit the church (any church) to establish a government separate and superior to our Constitution, for the purpose of establishing that religion.
The Constitution has a reset button. It is called the second amendment.
“Maybe this group assumes that the purpose of the First Amendment is only to prevent the church from interfering with the state. But the Amendment is just as concerned with preventing the state from interfering with the church.”
It’s purpose does NOT include preventing “the church from interfering with the state,” but ONLY “preventing the state from interfering with the church.” The church was INTENDED to guide the conscience of the Nation.
Overturning Everson vs. Board of Education would go a long way towards preserving the moral fibre necessary to maintain a viable Republic.
What about the Quakers and Jews?
Here Jefferson recounts proposed words to the statute that would be much like what you say, they were struck down and NOT included in the Statute or the 1st Amendment.
“Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word “Jesus Christ,” so that it should read, “a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;” the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination.”
Thomas Jefferson
Neither has there ever been a finding of U.S. law that only a Christian Church is forbidden from being established or that the free exercise of religion is relegated to Christianity only.
The Constitution limits what the federal government can do. That's all the Constitution does.
The rabid atheists think that the Constitution limits what churches can do. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It was actually only intended to keep the government out of the business of religion.
The left prefers to interpret it as “thou shalt keep all Christian influence out of our government”.
True, but the Second Amendment has a trigger lock derived from the First Amendment...A main tenet of Judeao/Christianity is "Thou shall not commit murder."
Based on that, a civil war is a pretty fine line.
Always be ready to "reset" the Constitution, if needed.
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