By now I'm sure most of my gentle readers have heard about the Federal Judge in San Francisco that ruled the word "God" unconstitutional. In his decision, he claimed everyone has a right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God." I'm not quite sure where that right came from.

Now keep in mind, and this is a very important point, that the United States Constitution DOES NOT GRANT rights. It simply lists out powers of the government and certain, specific rights that are protected. So often when someone complains about "finding" a right in the Constitution, I know they don't really understand the Constitution at all. If it's NOT there, it might be a right.

In this particular case, however, the judge obviously has not read the Constitution, or very clearly does not care about it. In case you haven't seen it in it's entirety, I present the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The Constitution does not prevent a local school district, a city, a town, a municipality, a ward, a district, or even an entire STATE from establishing a religion. Yes, I'm serious. Thomas Jefferson agreed with me. If the people of a town want to establish Islam as the town's religion, THEY ARE ALLOWED TO. Only the federal government is prohibited from doing so (unless, of course, a state constitution says otherwise).

If that's not good enough for you, how about other words in the amendment:

... or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Are there any judges left who actually believe the Constitution? Why is this issue so hard to comprehend? And before you ask, yes, if a group of people in one town want to establish their own town religion of Wiccan, I say YES THEY CAN. That's what a representative republic is all about -- people of like mind joining together to do what they like, WITHOUT interference from a federal government that claims to know better.

Posted by: Ogre at 07:38 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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