Freedom Of Religious Freedom

One of the main reasons that the settlers came and founded America was for religious freedom. Colonist made the long and dangerous journey for other reasons as well, but a major factor was the search for religious freedom. Coming to America alone did not solve this problem; the journey to religious freedom was just that, a journey. Everyone had a slightly different idea of what this new nation’s ‘religious freedom’ should look like and it took many years to come to a compromise.

Freedom of Religion means that the government can’t force you to accept only one set of religious beliefs or the way you worship. You can worship your own way and have your own religious beliefs as long as they don’t violate other people's rights. Today this is a very big debate when it comes to prayer and schools. Several cases have been brought to the Supreme Court about this and whether students have the right to pray in class or if the prayer would interfere with another student’s rights.

The First Amendment was created to protect Americans’ basic human rights. It states that the government has no right to make laws or prohibit the freedom of religion, speech, and press. However, with the First Amendment stating that there is freedom of religion, why are children and teachers not allowed to participate in religion during school or on school property? The creation of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause is the reason why. Curiously, there is no other right in the First Amendment that has a clause dedicated to it. Then why is the freedom of religion subject to such clauses when the other freedoms are not?

I think that the constitution was a triumph in republican government for many reasons. The constitution guaranteed basic rights for people, guarded against tyranny and established a new type of government. The basic rights for people included all the amendments. They guarded against tyranny in several ways such as separation of powers and checks and balances and lastly it created a new government by making the power of national and state governments equal.

When the Pilgrims settled into Massachusetts in 1620, they dreamed of a better life, a life away from the persecution they experienced in England from King George. They never would have dreamed that their small colony of Plymouth would blossom to be one of the largest countries in the world. And yet, nearly four hundred years later, it has become apparent to many, that America is in a downward spiral. It has come to a time where, the fate of our country could fall into the hands of one of the many people who believe it is right to persecute those of a specific religion because the actions of a small group of religious extremists. The unalienable First Amendment right of freedom of religion would be denied to more than 2.6 million people, based on uneducated assumptions. In addition to this, America has come to the point where more than forty-five million people live in poverty. Likewise, statistics show approximately 48.1 million people are in the uncomfortable position where they are insecure about their next, if not current, meal. In addition to this, our famous government, our renowned democracy, has become belittled by assumptions of political corruption. Furthermore, the morals in America have started to disappear, not only in our government, but also in our society. More kids are getting bullied and more people agree that we should rely less on faith, the very reason we built and expanded our country in the first place. Our once thriving nation

The very first amendment, added to the Constitution in 1791, contains guarantees of freedom of religion. According to Michael Kessler, “faith is the free movement of will”, which ties into the freedom of expression. You can willingly express your faith in the United States without the prosecution of the government. All of the Founders did believe that freedom of religion was important. Establishment clause and the free exercise clause give different opportunities of those who believe or practice a specific religion. Also, there are reasons for and not placing limitations on the exercise of one’s beliefs.

Freedom of Religion is the freedom to pursue any religion you choose without fear of government persecution, sanction or reprisal. Freedom of Religion is protected under the first amendment, which gives American citizens the right to freedom of “speech, religion, press and to assemble and petition”. When the founders wrote it in the Bill of Rights, they put it first for a reason. The original pilgrims fled England after facing religious persecution from the Church of England. Over the years, America still struggles to define what that means. Though we are still arguing, the definitions are surprisingly easy for something that has been argued over so much.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that every person in the United States has the right to exercise his or her own belief, or none at all, whatever their choice may be. Our nation's forefathers who were not of the same religious upbringings themselves recognized the greatest way to defend religious freedom was to retain the government out of religion so they generated the First Amendment to secure the separation of church and state (American Civil Liberties Union, n.d.). This important liberty is a main motivation why the U.S. has achieved to avoid a lot of the spiritual battles that have divided so many other states separately.

The American constitution prohibits the United States government to establish and/or support any one particular religion. This policy is outlined in the first amendment with the establishment clause. “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.” (U.S. Const. amend I.) The first amendment also ensures that the United States government can not deny any individual their right to religious practice. This right is outlined in the free exercise clause of the first amendment. The impact of any court case is immense and will carry repercussions. The Selman v. Cobb County court case reinforced the importance of not having religion taught or supported in the public school system, no matter how subtle religious ideas may be implied.

How can we say that the United States is a free country when we can not openly express our religious beliefs in public? Prayer within public schools has begun a significant debate amongst people in society today. This has been a controversial topic in the United States for approximately over 50 years. Many argue whether or not it is socially appropriate to have education and religion in the same place. People have made various reasons about why or why not prayer should be prohibited in public schools. There have been countless court cases and discussions all over the nation regarding this topic. According to Karen Ridder, “A prayer in New York caused the first U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on prayer in public schools: Even though it was the middle of the Cold War, a non-denominational, optional prayer known as The Regent’s Prayer got caught up in the 1962 case of Engle v. Vitale” (Ridder). This comes to show how the prohibition of school prayer has been an issue for a significant amount of time. While this is a very disputatious topic, prayer should be allowed in public schools because students should be able to freely express their beliefs.

Every single person in the United States have the right to express their religion of preference or no religion at all, however him or her wants without offending anybody, and the best way to protect religion’s liberty was by keeping the government out if it and creating this First Amendment freedom of religion, to separate the church from the state.

The First Amendment to The U.S Constitution, which states freedom of religion, in this case in the school setting

Freedom of religion is closely associated with separation of church and state, a concept advocated by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. The United States Constitution addresses the issue of religion in two places: in the First Amendment, and the Article VI prohibition on religious tests as a condition for holding public office. The First Amendment prohibits the Congress from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ” (Christofferson 1). This provision was later expanded to state and local governments, through the Incorporation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Religious freedom is more than just the freedom to believe what you want. It’s also the freedom to talk about and act on your core

In America, we have many rights, including the rights to free speech, peaceful protest, voting, and to bear arms. Although they are important, I believe that there is one right that is more important than any of these. That is our right to religious freedom. It is the first right guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, and the First Amendment. It gives us the right to practice any religion we choose, or, if we would like, to practice no religion at all. This is a gift, which we are all stewards of, and it is our duty to share this gift with other nations and people.

Religion in Schools has proven to be a very controversial matter as of lately. Even though teaching about religion is allowed in public schools, there are still many questions that are being asked in order to provide a basis of what is appropriate for school, and what is inappropriate. The first amendment to the United States Constitution says that 'congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof' which implies that you have the choice of exercising your own religion, no matter what it may be. However, this poses an interesting argument within the public schools of America because we have such a diverse population with