Religious freedom is often called
the "first freedom" in the U.S.
The Council for America's First
Freedom states that the passage of "An act for establishing religious freedom"
n Virginia during 1786"...was the first
time in the history of western civilization that a law was enacted that
protected religious freedom" for everyone. The Council was
founded in 1984 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the writing of the
statute. They sponsor a
Religious Freedom Day in mid-January annually. 1
Religious freedom is theoretically guaranteed by
the first sentence in the Bill of Rights -- the First
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
However, like all rights, they have to be
rigorously enforced. In this case, they must be defended against those who wish
to convert the U.S. and Canada into theocracies.
The first phrase, referred to as the establishment
clause, has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court as erecting a wall of
separation between church and state -- a phrase lifted from a letter by Thomas
Jefferson to a Baptist group. Jefferson was a firm believer in "the wall." He
regularly refused to authorize presidential proclamations of prayer,
thanksgiving and related religious matters. He felt that such proclamations were
the responsibility of religious institutions, not of the government.
On 2006-OCT-18, Americans United for the Separation of
Church and State and The Interfaith Alliance Foundation partnered to launch
the First Freedom First petition campaign.
2 Their goal is to collect support for the separation
of church and state, and a group of five specific principles. Unfortunately,
they do not explain in depth what topics are covered by each of the five
principles.
Americans United state that:
"The petition backs several freedoms that
polls show most Americans enthusiastically support. It's a way to remind
our elected leaders that Americans are committed to defending the
separation of church and state and ..." a
group of five principles:
"Every American should have the right
to make personal decisions — about family life, reproductive health,
end-of-life care and other matters of personal conscience."
"Family life" would apparently
guarantee loving committed couples the right to marry, whether they be of opposite gender or same gender.
"Tax dollars should not go to charities
that discriminate in hiring based on religious belief or that
promote a particular religious faith as a requirement for receiving
services."
This appears to criticize the Bush
administration's Faith-based Initiative program as
currently implemented. Under this program, tax money is funneled to religious
organizations to help them provide services to the public. There has been gross abuse of this
program in practice. Some faith groups have received federal money and then
discriminated on the basis of sex, religion, sexual orientation, etc. when
hiring individuals to staff their programs. Some church programs have included an
attempt to proselytize clients and leading them to
salvation.
"Political candidates should not be endorsed or opposed by houses of
worship."
Essentially all congregations are organized as non-profit organizations. IRS
rules allow almost complete freedom of speech in sermons, printed handouts, etc.
But they do not allow non-profits of any type to directly endorse or oppose political
candidates by name or party if the group is to retain its non-profit status.
Some voter guides have been distributed by congregations in violation of this
policy.
"Public schools should teach with academic integrity and without the
promotion of religious belief or preference."
This would appear to disallow the teaching of creation science or intelligent design in
science classes as true beliefs about the origins of animal species, the
Earth, and the rest of the universe. It would presumably allow teaching about
all beliefs on origins in a comparative religion course. It would also appear
to allow teaching about a broad range of religions and secular belief
systems in a comparative religion class, without indoctrination in any beliefs.
"Decisions about scientific and health policies should be based on
the best available scientific data, not on religious doctrine."
This appears to refer to such topics as:
The promotion of the vaccine against HPV in order to prevent cervical cancer in women.
Some religious conservatives oppose this vaccine because they are concerned that
lack of protection against HPV will encourage youths to abstain from pre-marital
sex.
Government programs to counter global warming and
degeneration of the environment. Some conservatives Christians deny the
existence of global warming and are not concerned about damage to the
environment. These beliefs appear to be caused by a mistrust of scientists'
findings, and an anticipation of the Rapture and
Jesus' second coming.
