First Amendment

“Congress shall make no law respecting the 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 to peaceably assemble,  and to petition the government for redress of grievances.”

The ultimate rights given to the American people by our Founding Fathers has been under attack due to the preponderance of propaganda emitted by various sources. It seems extremely simple and straightforward to me. Every word chosen very carefully to ensure that there is no ambiguity, yet everyday as I watch the news or read the paper, I hear complete disregard for it.

• “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”

For the past month or so there has been so much debate about the “ground zero mosque”. Any debate to me is moot due to the first sentence of the First Amendment explicitly saying that government does not have a say. Personally, I do not care if the owners of the land want to place a mosque there. I do not find it at all offensive and I cannot comprehend why anyone with any sort of intellect would. Unless of course, you are ignorant enough to be indoctrinate to hate all Muslims because of what 19 terrorist did 9 years ago. According to that line of thinking, Catholic churches shouldn’t be able to have schools on their property because HUNDREDS of priests molested little boys. Or Baptists wouldn’t allowed to be around cemetery because the Westboro Baptist Church likes to praise God for the death of abortion doctors, soldiers and homosexuals. Let’s be real, that would never happen. The anti-Islam propaganda and racism towards Middle Easterners is out of control and until it ends, the terrorists, not Muslims,  will continue their hatred of us. A one person fight probably isn’t fun.

Our Founding Fathers were a lot smarter than most of the people that like to evoke them actually are. I actually cringe every time I hear someone referencing the Founding Fathers as wanting this “great Christian society”; I am a Christian but I am also a student of history that realizes that we were founded by mostly Agnostics and Deists, not Christians. We were founded as a country that would be tolerant of every one’s beliefs, so long they do not violate other statutes written within the bounds of the Constitution.

The Constitution, and the first 15 amendments to it, are the epitome of law and order and human rights. I just wish that the majority of the American people had the pragmatism and non partisanship to truly understand how amazing that document really is.