“The Constitution and Freedom of Religion” or “Why is it so cold?”

Yesterday, I said I would write on one of two subjects. If you read my blog or the title of todays, you know which ones. Well I decided to cover the simple one: Why is it so cold?

After considerable thought and research I have determined it is cold because, it is winter.

Ok that was short and sweet, maybe too short. So I guess I have to cover Freedom of Religion, probably the most controversial and debated Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. Well it is part of the 1^st amendment which includes freedom of speech, right to petition, and assembly; so one can only expect to have controversy here, not as bad as that third amendment, that quartering thing, that is abused all the time. (Actually it isn’t but I could not resist.)

Most people think of prayer in school and “In God We Trust” on our currency, some are for some are against. The pledge of allegiance is another one, people get stuck on the “One nation under God”; I think that is a minor thing but others do not.

The main argument for people wanting prayer in School, “In God We Trust”, or the Pledge of Allegiance is that our founding fathers were men of God. Well yes and no, while most were, there were significant differences in there beliefs. Some of our Founding Fathers were Quakers, Catholics, Anglican, and an Atheist or two. Thomas Jefferson was thought to be a deist while John Adams was a Unitarian.  The Point here is that they had different views on religion but understood it would not be right for them to use the government to force their beliefs on the populace. They knew this because they had experienced what government sanctioned religion could do; it could limit freedom and opportunities.

At the time of the American Revolution and quite a few years before, the British (United Kingdom, depends on what year you are talking about) had a policy to limit who could hold office: such as government, Military, even Royal. Using laws such as the Test Act (not a written test. don’t you hate those?) that required an oath to renounce the Pope before one could hold office. Others that were excluded from office were Jews, Muslims, and pretty much anyone who was not part of a sanctioned government religion. (I.E the Church of England) Talk about being limited in what you could do. Lucky for us we have the 1^st Amendment; the law in the UK was changed in the mid 1800’s (It was the UK then all that Act of Union stuff had taken place by then.)

It is not just because of limiting of public office stuff that the Freedom of Religion was added to the Constitution (yes added to as part of The Bill Of Rights not written into the main part, but that is another story for another day), most people just don’t like being told what and when you can worship or even that you have to believe in God. Oh if you are thinking I am an atheist for arguing for the separation of Church and State your wrong I am a Christian and believe the only way to keep my freedom to worship is if the Government keeps their nose out.

I do think we would have had fewer problems if the founding fathers would have used a more modern and politically correct term like “belief system” this would have been a catch and would have included atheists so we would not have their beliefs jammed down our throats. Imagine debating politically correct language during the Constitutional Convention, we’d still be governed under the Articles of Confederation (no not the Southern Confederates).

So you can take away organized prayer in school, you can take away “In god we trust” from my money, and you can take “One nation under God” from the pledge of Allegiance, Just don’t take away my Freedom of Religion.