Defining Moments Monday
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution isn’t
about the Five Freedoms.
I have been interested in the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights at least ever since I was in high school. However, I have taken
greater interest in the Bill of Rights in the Last 45 years. My good friend Richard E. Miller has
suggested that those first ten amendments should really be called the Bill of
Rights and Responsibilities. I agree with him 100%, but he said it first,
so you should look to him for his explanation.
I’ve decided that the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights
is the foundation of the remaining nine amendments. Here is the wording of 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.”
First, please note that these “freedoms” are guaranteed to
the PEOPLE and come before anything else in the Bill of Rights.
Second, the very first freedom is “freedom” of
religion, or more particularly, we are free of Congress from telling us what we
must believe (or not to believe) concerning religion. Along with this is
a promise that government will not interfere with anyone’s exercise of their
religious convictions. More importantly,
this is a recognition that God, whatever form that being may take in any
person’s mind, is at the forefront of all those basic freedoms. Content Alert: Here’s some history.
The Commonwealth of Virginia in 1776 began work on its
Declaration of Rights. George Mason had suggested that “"all men
should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion, according to
the dictates of conscience...." James Madison objected to this
wording suggesting that the “toleration” of religion was a gift of government
and not an inalienable right, and suggested that "all men are entitled to
the full and free exercise" of religion instead.
“Thank you, James Madison.”
Years later Madison would put pen to paper to write our
Constitution then write what would be ratified in 1789 as the Bill of Rights.
This fourth President of the United State, a deeply religious man, would
not only become known as the Father of the Constitution, but also as a defender
of religious liberty. Given a mountain of facts not presented here, it is
extremely difficult to deny that Madison’s thoughts were focused on the role of
God and religion on this fledgling country of ours. He was careful to
separate the RULE of “the Church” on
“the State”, but he never really intended to prohibit or forbid the INFLUENCE of God on our nation. Remember that Madison was the one who said, “If men were angels, no government would be
necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls
on government would be necessary.”
Third, if the First Amendment is the foundation of the
entire Bill of Rights, then this First Freedom, the Freedom of Religion, is the
cornerstone of the First Amendment.
Fourth, in recent years there has been a growing voice
suggesting that freedom of religion should actually mean freedom FROM religion.
If this should become the true interpretation of this longest clause of
the First Amendment, then it would naturally hold true that there should be no
free press, no freedom to peaceably assemble, and no freedom to petition the
government for redress of grievances. Let that sink in. Is it already happening?
Fifth and finally, the five freedoms in the First Amendment
are actually manifestations of an even more important freedom. These five
freedoms are an expression of this one very basic freedom: The Freedom of Conscience.
It is the freedom to choose. It is the freedom to believe. Or to not believe. It is the freedom to succeed or fail. It is the freedom to be. And that is my defining moment which took
over 45 years to come to fruition.
I believe we all have defining moments in our lives. Those
moments mold and shape us into the person we become. While some of those
defining moments point in the same direction, not all of them do. There are
contradictions. Step-by-step though, those defining moments help make us who we
are.
Excellent, well written..
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