Happy Constitution Day: Separation of Church and State

Today (September 17, 2007) is Constitution Day. On this day in 1787, the Constitution of the United States of America was signed. Today battles are raging between people over the constitutionality of religious freedoms and liberties.

Now you listen to me.

The First Amendment reads as such:

“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 of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Maybe it is just that I am reading this through Canadian eyes, but doesn’t this say that the government has no right to make laws regarding people’s religious practices?

And if so, then why are people bickering about having a cross placed on a hill and stuff like that, as if the government has any authority to restrict someone’s religious expression by placing it there?

Reading this amendment, the first in the United States Bill of Rights, I see that it is saying that the government cannot make a law about religion at all, whether it be to establish a state religion or restricting someone from religious expression in any way.

If this is true, then no judge can tell anyone that they are not allowed to speak about religious things in school, or in the workplace, on public streets or anywhere else. This would be in violation of the First Amendment because they will be making a law regarding religion.

Case in point: Some whom I will leave unnamed recently went downtown to preach the gospel. He was told by security guards that he was not allowed to preach on government property, even though it was outside in a public square. He was told he was only allowed to preach on the sidewalk. This is restricting the right to free speech. If the government is not allowed to make laws regarding religion, they cannot tell this man that he cannot preach in a certain place, government property or not.

According to the First Amendment, the government has no right whatsoever to restrict religious expression in any way. They simply have no say. Separation of church and state is a myth. People are taking something Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter over the very wording of the Constitution of the United States of America.

When will it end?