7) The Bible is a “living, breathing document”, but it is not like the US constitution. As our nation constantly changes and evolves, the constitution represents the limits our nation abides by. Although new issues, such as healthcare and gay marriage, are dragged to the forefront of our legislation, the constitution is simply a set of guidelines our government must abide by to avoid complete anarchy. The Bible is different. As we all know, it’s the most influential book in our occidental society.
Assignment 2.03 Amendment selected: First Amendment The first amendment was written due to the fact that most of the citizens demanded their basic freedoms. (“Congress will make no law respecting an establishment of the religion, and prohibiting the free exercise of; or abridging the freedom of speech, and of the press; and right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.’’) What is the personal liberty defined in the Amendment? The first amendment is referred to as Freedom of Religion. This amendment guarantees freedom of religion in two types of ways; one is preventing the government from establishing an official church. And the second is free will to worship as they please to their religion.
George Washington, for example, is not known to have taken communion, and one bishop who knew him was confident he was not a believer. Jefferson's scissored-down New Testament is well known. In the realm of what Meacham calls "public religion" the founding fathers thus assiduously avoided any sectarian bias. They strongly protected the right of every citizen to freely exercise "private faith," or no faith at all, as each individual conscience saw fit. Such was the paradox between political liberty and religious faith: "Many, if not most, believed; but none
For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here (Thinking).” Here, Patrick Henry went against the very first Amendment to the Constitution, which asserts, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…(Bill of Rights)” In saying that the United States was indeed founded on the religious practices and morals of Christian life, Henry stood for everything that all the Founding Fathers believed as a whole. Several people would agree with him, saying that the only reason religious freedom is allowed is because those who originally governed the U.S. were good Christian men, and therefore welcomed with open arms any of those who fled to America in pursuit of liberty of religious persecution
In an overview, they express hostility towards big government, big business, big national debt, and big taxes. Their beliefs are surrounded upon the Constitution. “The constitution is a timeless document that guarantees our basic freedoms” (Tea Party Patriots). They claim to support all personal freedoms, as long as no harm comes to others or take away rights from other American people. The Tea Party movement believes no American President, Democrat, nor Republican should ever go beyond the Constitution, regardless of the issue at hand.
The prayer was offered to the school boards in the State for use, the participation in the prayer was voluntary. Engel v. Vitale is a famous supreme court case that started in 1962 that dealt with the voluntary prayer which was stated in schools. People though that praying to god was going against their beliefs and religion so they wanted for the prayer to be removed from the schools.In New York, the Union Free School District No. 9 directed the local principal to have the prayer said aloud by each class in the presence of a teacher at the beginning of the school day.The parents of ten pupils in the New Hyde Park schools disagreed and were upset that this prayer was being said in their children's school. They soon filed a suit in a New York State court to banned the prayer,they kept on insisting that the use of this prayer in the public schools was contrary to their own and their children's beliefs, religions, or religious practices.
Two Jehovah's Witness school children, ages 10 and 12, Lillian and William Gobitis were suspended from school for refusing to salute the American flag in Minersville, Pennsylvania. The Gobitis children were Jehovah's Witnesses; they believed that such a gesture of respect for the flag was forbidden by their religion. Their parents claimed that the children's' due process rights had been violated by the school district, they believed their children had the right to refuse to say the Pledge. In an 8-to-1 decision, the Court upheld the mandatory flag salute The Court held that the state's interest in "national cohesion" was "inferior to none in the hierarchy of legal values" and that national unity was the idea of national security. The court found that the flag was an important symbol of national unity and that school children should respect and salute
Here in America, we do not have a national religion, yet the idea of separation of church and state has been raised more than once. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were very clear when they talked about church and state. Madison wrote in a letter, "The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries." Madison and Jefferson feared the harsh monarchs of Europe and did not what that to happen to their new country. Countries that do have a national religion often face more violent and extreme problems.
The notion that religion is of no significance to the growth and well-being of the American society is fraught with danger. This cornucopia of differing culture demands a common thread that binds its citizens together. It astounds me how our judiciary came to the erroneous conclusion that the First Amendment implies that religion should not pay a role in our democratic republic. I believe the founders, as forwarding thinking as they were, would have provided a more closed language, had they known that this statement:” Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (p.11.2008),This Amendment that was meant to buttress the anti federalist position on government interference with
Kienan Johnigan Col. Rosenbaum December 3rd, 2012 JROTC Morality in the Constitution “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” — John Adams”. The United States constitution, just like any other document is due to interpretation; in our country when light is shined on a specific situation, we go to the court to solve it but if a highly important man to our country says the constitution, the doctrine that runs our country is only for moral and religious reasons, Is our country blindly being ruled over predominantly religion, or morality? Natural Law posits that there is a Creator, that we all have to answer to the Creator and the best way to guarantee our