given2Christ's Blog

     Dear, American People,

      It seams that today the central fovernment has far exceeded the boundries of this nations longstanding Constitution. The fears of an elected despotism that so plagued the minds of my contemporaries has, unfortunately, come to be. I'm not writing, however, to discuss such a broad topic, but to tell of the "freedom of religion" clause that has been sadly misinterpreted as "freedom from religion".

          Some fellow Americans have called it to my attention that the common analysis of Ammendment I by many Republicans involves viewing only one segment, so lets examine the whole.  "Congress shall make no law respecting  an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;",  the an establishment  of religion meaning a previously existing religious institution or one coming into existence. With this definition in mind, we determine the Congress may not legislate restrictions on churches, mosques, or tabernacles and the observance of the practices regarding spiritual beliefs (the latter part due to it being part of religous establishments). The previous statement is further supported by the 'prohibiting the free exercise thereof:", clause since prohibiting is simply the most extreme embodiment of restricting.

     Now for the more practical discussion pertaining to legislatures and other government bodies virtually eliminating any inkling of open expression of Christianity. I know many of the liberal mindset will bound on my arguement in support of Christianity, accusing me of being biased. Rest assured, my debates will only consist of the content of our Constitution.  Elimination of rights such as praying and evangelising freely in institutions is blatantly in violation of the 1st Ammendent. This is clearly prohibiting free exercise along with freedom of speach, hence evangelising. Victims of such restrictions not only include our children, but the government employees and teachers who may no longer express spirituallality due to threat of puplic outcry and loss of  employment. Such division was intended to be destroyed by the Constitution, not created by it's misenterpretation.

      In conclusion, legislating away our freedom of religion is a common occurance today. It violates the original powers layed out by my fellow founding fathers. We are falling into a great pit leading to the despotism of the Church of England that has been dug by the very people that are attempting to prevent history from repeating itself. We're slowly beginning to follow the document formed from the opinions of our represenative's. Wakeup and be watchful America and fight for your God given liberies in the days ahead.

                                                   
     Sincerely yours, Thomas Jefferson.