FFQF: The Bill of Rights — First Amendment
It seems that our theme for this week has sounded a bit more like an elegy to the Bill of Rights, which, for all practical purposes, are dead. What now? Well, let us look and see where we have fallen. We will start by looking at the First Amendment:
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 right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Thanks to radical revisionism and misinterpretation of this amendment, the version which is now observed and practiced reads as follows:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of any religion except that of humanism, nor prohibiting the free expression thereof, no matter how unreasonable, injurious, or obscene. Neither the Congress, nor the President, nor the courts, nor the states, nor the people, may in any way sanction or express the Christian religion exclusively — this would contradict the aforesaid establishment of the state-sanctioned religious establishment of humanism.
The people may speak and picket and petition, but the government has the right to ignore and silence them from time to time as it shall deem proper.
Sounds nasty, doesn’t it? I regret to say that this is largely our fault. One the one hand, you had ordinary citizens believing with the courts and the historical revisionists that the First Amendment was basically meant to guarantee individual freedom of expression, and to protect licentious individuals from even having to think about Christianity, lest they get offended. We allowed ourselves to be brainwashed by the government’s courts, government-owned major media outlets, and government-owned schools that Christians were just bigoted control-freaks who wanted to force their absurd beliefs on everybody else.
Oh, but we enjoyed our “freedom” from God for a while, didn’t we? While our kids were shooting each other and committing violent and obscene crimes, while families and marriages fell to pieces, while corruption within our government quadrupled, while every generation was sent to fight and die overseas in the politicians’ wars, and while thousands of unborn children, unwanted infants, and unwanted elderly people were put to death each day in our own land. What paradise! What a nation to be proud of! Wasn’t it worth it??? JUST SO LONG AS WE HAD THE RIGHT NOT TO THINK ABOUT GOD!! What? Bailout??? EVIL GOVERNMENT!! Don’t you dare touch my wallet!
Here is the price we’ve paid. Two hundred years have gone by, and yet another nation has refused to learn the lesson from history: that the nation that willfully forgets God, will eat the fruit of its own folly and destruction.
At least we had an honorable bunch of fellows who were willing to learn that lesson, and pass the warning to their descendants:
There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost and religious liberty preserved entire.Reverend John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence
Would you put your religion in the power of any set of men living? Remember civil and religious liberty always go together: if the foundation of one be sapped, the other will fall of course.
8 Responses to “FFQF: The Bill of Rights — First Amendment”
February 13th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Excellent. Just, excellent. You have summarized the modern interpretation of the First Amendment very well.
February 13th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Woohoo, Herky, we’re all in ranting mode today, aren’t we?
I, too, like your new first amendment, but I would make one small change. Where you’ve said “may in any way sanction or express the Christian religion exclusively” I would change “exclusively” to “at all.”
BTW, are you going to write a whole new Bill of Rights for 2009? I’d like to see that.
February 13th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Hello all. Thanks for reading and leaving your comments.
Thanks Cato and Jean. But I guess the government has been making it rather easy to read their mind, these days. At least to some degree.
Jean, that is probably a good change to make. I did consider that, but I guess that it is somewhat tolerated still, JUST SO LONG as it is put on an equal level with pagan religions. If you noticed, not even Rick Warren mentioned Jesus exclusively when he said whom he was going to pray to — he had to mention the Jewish and Arabic translations of the name too — hint, hint.
So, Warren could say “Jesus,” but if he didn’t go out of his way to be “inclusive,” he would have gotten slammed.
There are many other such examples.
As for writing the Bill of Rights for 2009 — wowee. I’ll think about it. You may have noticed that I usually do not get so sarcastic on my blogs, but my “modern 1st Amendment” alone gave me the fit.
I think I’ll have to do the Bill of Rights 2009 ed. on a very, VERY, cold day. :s
Thanks again for commenting.
Happy FFQF!
February 13th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
I had indeed noticed your previous lack of sarcasm, Herky, unlike Cato and me. It's nice to see that you're human.
As for the inclusive garbage, I say this: if it's inclusive Christianity, it's not Christianity. [See 1st Commandment.]
FYI, Warren's Isa is NOT an Arabic translation of Jesus, as he would have us think. Isa is a Muslim prophet, and found only in the Koran. Here's the link:
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php?p=1358&more=1&c=1
Boy, this was energizing today, eh?
February 14th, 2009 at 2:00 am
I agree that “inclusive Christianity” is not Christianity at all. You can’t mix dirt with water and still have water.
What I was referring to initially was inclusive expression. If anything Christian is present, something of another religion, including secular humanism, must also come beside it, so that Christianity is debased to an equal level. For instance, town boards will forbid people to place ONLY nativity scenes on their public lot during Christmas time; they can only do so if Santa or a Jewish lamp stand is nearby. Stuff like that.
I didn’t know that about the name ‘Isa.’ Thanks for filling me in! I guess Warren in not the only person who needs to brush up on his languages!
Yes, it was an energizing FFQF!
February 14th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Interesting entry, and one that I can, in today’s world, agree wholeheartedly with I recently stumbled across your blog, and enjoyed your perspective – which again, I think, is right on the mark. I listed you under ‘my blog list’ on one of my blogs, hoping to gain you greater exposure. Your view needs to be broadcast! I agree with the hope you’ll work on all of the Bill of rights in 2009. Maybe a trip to northern Alaska might provide you with the ‘very cold day’ you need….
Thanks again for a great post.
February 14th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Hello Mike B. Welcome to my blog. Thanks so much for reading and leaving your comment. I’m honored at your kind words. Thanks for linking here!
I promise to plan on writing the 2009 edition of the Bill of Rights. But be forewarned — it will probably contain a touch of NY sarcasm. And most of the rights listed will be the rights of the government, not the rights of the people. I think that’s what it has become.
And while I’m at it, I’ll think about venturing up to Alaska.
Thanks again for leaving your comment; it led me to your fabulous history blogs! I will link back to them on this one, and I promise to visit them often.
Thanks again.
Best regards.
February 16th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Herky:
Magnificent article! I seriously doubt if there is a ‘God-fearing’ Christian out there who wouldn’t readily agree with you. I sure do!
I really enjoyed the ‘shoot from the hip’ style of your writing in this post; moreover, I really respect and admire how well you tactfully state how our own government is viewing religious freedom.
I also loved the comment that Mike B. left for you. Just another one of us who get blown-away by your site and your candor.
Lastly, the quote from Rev. Witherspoon, “…the nation that willfully forgets God, will eat the fruit of its own folly and destruction” is so appropriate right now. Cheers mate!
Keep up the awesome work!
jps
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