How Would you Feel and What Would You Do, if Your Freedom of Religion or Freedom of Speech Were Taken Away?
According to the First Amendment to America's constitution, every citizen has a right to speech provided that whatever is said does not infringe on another person's freedom and rights. Besides, everyone is free to practice a religion of choice or even none at all. The founders who had varying religious backgrounds themselves thought about ways of promoting religious liberty and concluded that keeping the government out of it was the best way to go. As a result, the First Amendment came in to draw the line between the state affairs and the religion issues. The idea has indeed helped the US avoid religious conflicts that have brought a lot of problems in many other countries like Syria. The constitution bars the government from promoting or undermining any form of religion, hence, America lacks an official religion. Since the Constitution has provided that right, no one would be okay if the freedom to exercise the faith of choice is undermined or even taken away. The same constitution does not guarantee discrimination, and therefore an attempt to 'take-away' my freedom of religion would be considered as a form of discrimination.
In circumstances where I feel that my rights to exercise the religion of choice is undermined, I would explore the necessary legal avenues like joining the advocacy groups or registering my case with America's justice institutions like the courts. The same would apply to situations where there are attempts to take away my freedom of speech without any legal justification. Even though the current legal precedents seems to have thwarted the free-exercise clause, a proper court ruling is still able to set things right.Also, in the words of Sigmund Freud, ‘the voice that reasons is always soft and never gives up.” People should remain persistent in their freedom advocacy endeavors.
