Your opinion?
2007-05-23 03:34:08 · 17 answers · asked by G.C. 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Freedom of Religion. The idea was that everyone should be able to practice their own religion without interference from others.
Unfortunately, there is a concerted movement from America's heartlands to obfuscate this goal and convert the rest of America to one particular religion, sanctioned by the state.
2007-05-23 03:41:43 · answer #1 · answered by 006 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
America was founded b/c some brilliant men were tired of paying taxes and getting no protection from the the British when attacked. They determined to separate the government and religious groups b/c they had first hand experience at the arguing and bloodshed that occurs when the two are combined. After King Henry VIII made the Church of England just to get a new wife, legally, Protestants and Catholics fought to the death, literally, for hundreds of years.
I think the actual wording of that phrase is 'freedom from religion' but there are other documents, plus thousands of court cases, based on freedom OF.
2007-05-23 10:54:29 · answer #2 · answered by strpenta 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It was founded on the basis of freedom of religion. While many of the founding fathers where some where deists. People that believe God made everything then had no further interaction with creation. They did recognise the importance of Christianity to the civilisation and the laws and practises were basis upon biblical teachings.
2007-05-23 10:43:03 · answer #3 · answered by ronald s 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Freedom of Religion must necessarily also be freedom from religion or it is not really freedom of religion. This is why: the idea of 'freedom of religion' means that we do not have to belong to any specific religion, the founding fathers set it up that way in order to insure that no particular religion (for example the Anglican Church, the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church etc...) could take over power in the country and declare its religion to be the religion of the state. If we are not required to belong to any particular religion, then we are also free to belong to NO particular religion, and it is equally true that there could be NEW religions that are created by people to which we also may belong or choose not to belong to. So, freedom of religion is also freedom from religion.
2007-05-23 10:44:03 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Freedom of Religion, which the Founding Fathers meant to be that people didn't have to belong to one certain Christian denomination. The King of England had wanted to divorce a woman and marry someone else. The Catholic Church told him that he could not within the tenets of the church. His answer was to separate from the Catholic Church and make his own denomination, for which he was the highest person. Anyone who served him had to be of that same specific denomination. This is what the Founding Fathers meant.
2007-05-23 10:41:27 · answer #5 · answered by †Lawrence R† 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first of the Bill of Rights states;
Amendment I
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.
I read "no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," to mean that we have the right to any religion or to no religious beliefs.
2007-05-23 10:43:19 · answer #6 · answered by seeking speaker 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Freedom of religion. People can be free from any religion or all as long as they do not prevent or infringe on the free public and private exercise of religion by others
2007-05-23 10:41:10 · answer #7 · answered by James O 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It was based on the right to freedom of religion. We are free to choose what we believe, and not suffer persecution for that belief, nor be coerced, or forced in another system of belief. The right NOT to believe in a set religion is also covered under that, as it is in itself a belief.
2007-05-23 10:39:36 · answer #8 · answered by Goddess Nikki 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Freedom of....and freedom from. England demanded their people be in the Church of England.We broke away so we could be what ever denomination we wanted or be nothing at all.Certainly the nation WAS founded on a Christian basis.The first colleges were religiously founded such as Harvard.
2007-05-23 10:40:37 · answer #9 · answered by AngelsFan 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Freedom from Religion.
The Founding Fathers were very interested in placing restraints on religion so that it could not take control of the government.
2007-05-23 10:44:14 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋