The Intolerant Man

To be free means to enjoy personal rights and liberty without intervention. To practice free exercise means to practice your interpretation of a religion without intervention. These values came from a time where people escaped the lives they had known, and ventured into the unknown. For hundreds of years, people have ventured to the United States of America to explore their religious freedoms that they did not have in their native countries. America was founded on just a few principles, and religious freedom was one of the key principles. The framers of the Federal Constitution added an important provision in the first amendment, the free exercise clause.

The free exercise clause states that a person may choose to believe whatever he wishes. He may believe in one god, many gods, or no god at all. The free exercise clause states that the government can not intervene in the citizens’ right to believe. The only way the government can interfere is if that person’s beliefs harms or abuses the lawful rights of others.

Free exercise meant Americans could practice their religion freely as long as it did not harm other people’s rights. This was important to our founding fathers because there were many different religious beliefs among them. The only way they could all agree is if the first amendment made America a melting pot of all different religions. It is ironic that the founding fathers picked religious freedom to be the first amendment. It must have been very important to them if it was to be listed first. The freedom of exercising your religion is one of America’s oldest trademarks.

The freedom of religion has changed a little since the founding fathers wrote the Constitution so many years ago, but the freedom of religion still serves a similar purpose.  The simple purpose of every citizen’s right to believe what they wish is still quite intact today, but the public practice of that religion, especially in today’s schools, is questionable. You can not simply walk into a school and get a group of friends together and pray in front of the whole school. In the colonial days, this would be fine, but in today’s society, this is highly unacceptable. The freedoms that our ancestors had in school are being thrown out to the curb. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The pro is that religion-based conflicts will not come up as much, and a safer and more comfortable learning environment will be provided. Students in school will not be a member of a religion, but a student of the school. The con is that this religious barrier goes against our first amendment, and some people take the amendments literally. Loopholes can be found in many famous documents, and people continue to find them in these same documents today. The Constitution can be interpreted many different ways, so there is not just one right answer. If the founding fathers established a nation where people could practice their religion freely, then I think we should hold up the same kind of values that they treasured. Public schools should allow kids to practice what they want, because the schools sponsor religion-related organizations like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). It is only fair for all groups to have an equal opportunity, because America was built on equality.