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Introduction Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Contact Signers of Documents |
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or preventing the free
exercise thereof;
Today, America's children are taught that according to what the First Amendment is saying and means, religion and government must be separate. The children are instructed to believe that religion must stay over here in its sphere and government over there. The youth are encouraged toward the view that says according to what the First Amendment means there must be no God or religion in American government. But, there is a problem with this: a closer look at these words shows something significant. This is not what these words are saying. It appears that the modern version of what these words mean has been twisted to fit a certain preconceived agenda. But, there is a simple remedy for this. To solve it one must see these words in the historical context in which they were written. It is the context in which they were written that can show what they mean. The First Amendment was a vow, a solemn promise, even a sacred covenant that was given to the Protestant leaders of the Thirteen Colonies or the several states. The founders had made an agreement with them. For, without their signatures the U.S. Constitution could not be ratified. The problem was they were refusing to sign the U.S Constitution without certain assurances and guarantees. The agreement, therefore, said that in exchange for your cooperation and agreement in signing, there would be a certain arrangement. That is, in return for their cooperation a certain design of government would be in place. The First Amendment, therefore, was a promise given to the Protestant leaders of the states that said your religion would never be made a part of American government. At the same time it said that religion would always have free expression in all parts of society. The Protestants could not have agreed to anything else. For, this would have been a violation of conscience.
Montage by Carin Goldberg Original Image: “‘Declaration of
document, the people should understand what it means
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May it please your lordships,
what did I hear read? Did I hear an expression that these men, whom your Click here to go to Introduction
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