“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…“
First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America
The Supreme court has ruled that prayer specifically referring to the name “Jesus Christ” cannot be spoken during any meeting in Forsyth County, North Carolina.
Where is the correct balance between establishing a particular religion over other religions, and the prohibition of any religion?
If religion is to be allowed at all in the United States, it must not be unimpeded by the government. To allow prayer to be conducted during a meeting, but restrict the structure of that prayer, is a clear violation of the free exercise and freedom of speech clauses of the first Amendment of the Constitution.
This decision by the high court maintains a decision by the Federal Appeals court ruling that states that predominantly Christian prayers which are conducted during the start of any commission meeting, violate the first amendment, and is an endorsement of the Christian religion.
The court found that more than three-quarters of the 33 invocations spoken before commission meetings between May 2007 and December 2008 referred to “Jesus,” “Jesus Christ,” “Christ,” or “Savior.”
According to the majority of the Supreme court, this is a violation of the establishment clause.
“Faith is as deeply important as it is deeply personal,” Judge J. Harvey Wilkinson wrote in the July 29th appellate court ruling. “and the government should not appear to suggest that some faiths have it wrong and others got it right.”
When the framers of the Constitution conceived the idea to allow the free exercise of religion in the United States, it was in response to the government formerly restricting the use of the name of Jesus Christ in prayer or as an expression of personal faith by those who were in government. It was never the purpose of the framers to restrict anyone during any government meeting from praying in their chosen format, to any God they chose to worship.
The purpose of the establishment clause was not to impede religious expression in America, but to free it’s citizens to speak and express their preferred religious faith. Those atheistic leaders who claim that the framers were “Deists” and not specifically Christians who literally believed the Bible and that Jesus is the Savior of the world, consistently seek to rewrite the history books of America’s foundation. It is a fact of history that two-thirds of the framers were Christians who openly prayed the name of Jesus Christ, spoke and wrote of their faith in Him, and believed that the free exercise of that expression were rights guaranteed to them by God. That these rights should not be impeded by government, was the specific reason that they were placing the establishment clause and free exercise stipulation, into the first amendment in the first place.
There has been a constant, yet gradual move to take away certain rights that were guaranteed to us under the United States Constitution. Unless you have studied the original “Bill of Rights”, The “Declaration of Independence”, and The “Constitution”, you are probably not aware of your rights as an American Citizen.
Did the men that founded the United States of America, have a goal of making this “One Nation under God” Was it the intent of the Founding Fathers of America to make American Government based upon the Laws of God, with God as it’s source for power, strength, wisdom and protection. Did the Framers of the Constitution want for Government to have no touch with Religion or were they trying to protect Religion from the Government?
George Washington, letter to the Reformed German Congregation of New York City, November 27, 1783
“The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field — the object is attained — and it now remains to be my earnest wish & prayer, that the Citizens of the United States could make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings placed before them.”
John Adams, Framer of the Constitution:
It is the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the SUPREME BEING, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe.
Jacob Broom, Signer of the Constitution (to his son)
[D]on’t forget to be a Christian. I have said much to you on this head and I hope an indelible impression is made…
Charles Carroll, Signer of the Declaration
On the mercy of my Redeemer I rely for salvation and on His merits; not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts.
Thomas Jefferson
I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.
James Iredell, U.S. Supreme Court Justice under President George Washington
I think the Christian religion is a Divine institution; and I pray to God that I may never forget the precepts of His religion or suffer the appearance of an inconsistency in my principles and practice.
Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration
My only hope of salvation is in the infinite, transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of His Son upon the Cross. Nothing but His blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!
Roger Sherman, Signer of both the Declaration and the Constitution
I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. That the Scriptures of the old and new testaments are a revelation from God and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.
John Witherspoon, Signer of the Declaration
I shall now entreat . . . you in the most earnest manner to believe in Jesus Christ, for “there is no salvation in any other” [Acts 4:12]. . . . [I]f you are not clothed with the spotless robe of His righteousness, you must forever perish.
There is no mistake in the historical record. The United States of America was formed for the sole purpose of being able to Worship God, without the Government establishing how they should worship God.
This latest ruling by the Supreme Court is an erosion of your religious freedom, and an attempt to deny American citizens the rights guaranteed to them by the original intent of the Constitution of the United States.
Rob Robinson
