1stt Amendment to the #Constitution: #Freedom of Religion

january 18, 2013 by david j. shestokas

filed under: constitution educational series tagged with: amendment, bill of rights, congress, constitution, first amendment, founding fathers, religion, speech

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution are referred to as the Bill of Rights.  The First Amendment protects “freedom of expression” for Americans by restricting government authority to pass laws interfering with the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.  A fifth right, to petition the government for redress of grievances, is listed, but the citizenshave allowed it to be taken from them.  The first freedom protected in the First Amendment is religion.

It is fitting that protection of religious liberty from government interference is America’s “first freedom”. Many of the first North American colonists were motivated by a search for religious liberty.

Duty of 17^th Century Civil Authorities to Save Souls

Seventeenth century European religious persecution arose from the belief, held by Protestants and Catholics, that a society must have religious uniformity since there was only a single true religion.  Civil authorities had a duty to impose the single true religion by force if necessary in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens.  Heretics might be executed and nonconformists were granted no mercy.

- See more at: http://www.shestokas.com/constitution-educational-series/first-amendment-to-the-constitution-freedom-of-religion/#sthash.gO3E3MX5.dpuf