Do American Chrisitans want freedom of religion, or freedom to force their religion on others?

Question

We enjoy, in this country, a freedom to practice whatever religion we choose. We also enjoy the freedom to practice no religion at all. This idea that’s been circulating lately of the U.S. being a “Christian Nation” is a myth, a complete fabrication.

This country was founded on the principles of liberty. Necessary to these principles is a secular government, one that allows for the practice of religion, but does not endorse any particular religion of its own. It’s true there were a number of Christians among our founding fathers. There were also a number of Agnostics, Deists, and Atheists as well. This country was not founded upon the Bible, it was founded upon the Constitution of the United States of America, within which lies a distinction between the affairs of church and state.

This said, it is when the ideas of the church become politicized and legislation is even considered on religious grounds, as is the case with abortion, stem cell research, and homosexual marriage, there is obviously something to be wary of. A government that does not remain neutral in the affairs of religion threatens to destroy the freedom OF religion.

Answer 1

Current American Christians are just following the traditions of the Puritans.

The Puritans left England because they wanted freedom... the freedom to practice one of the most oppressive forms of religion ever. Once they got that freedom, they then took away the freedoms of everyone in their communities.

Answer 2

How do you differentiate between sin and crime?
Laws against murder could just as easily be defined as Christians pushing a religious agenda in an attempt to legislate a religious commandment.

I am an American Christian who is a member of the Libertarian Party and the ACLU. I want freedom of religion.

Answer 3

Do these words ring a bell?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

If there is no creator, then what foundation is there for the inalienable rights they speak of? The only thing that is a fabrication is your revisionist embrace of ignorance.

Nobody is talking about granting the church the power force religion. That is just a silly notion of atheists that want to remold this country in their secular image.

Answer 4

Virtually all American Christians want freedom of religion for themselves. Some (but not all) American Christians want freedom of religion for all, including non-Christians (this is the category I'm in). A different subset of American Christians want the "freedom to force their religion upon others," as you put it. American Christians are not a homogeneous group; it's hard to make generalizations about us.

Answer 5

Some on the Christian Right would like to, and many more would be complicit. But I don't think the majority of Christians agree with the vision of converting America into a theocracy. Those who do are a permanent minority, and getting smaller.


Peace.

Answer 6

Christians want to be able to practice their religion freely. Christianity does not give believers the option to limit practice of their beliefs to church or their private homes. They are required to practice their religion every minute of every day regardless of the beliefs of others.

The right to free practice of religion is not the same as a right to be free from religion. The fact that someone is praying or reading their Bible in front of you, in no way compels you to participate or convert to Christianity. If someone starts telling you about their religion than just tell them that you are not interested and they should leave you alone.


Judeo-Christian Tradition:

The United States freedoms are based upon Common law which gets it's basis from the ten commandments, thus our rights and laws are based in Judeo-Christian tradition.

Even the notion of freedom of religion is based upon ideas derived from the bible. Specifically, the Bible emphasises that God wants us to come to him by choice. That is why God allowed sin to enter the world. Without the choice to do wrong, we would not be able to choose to do God's will.

Virtually all of the founding fathers were Christians. They repeatedly said that the people should choose Christians for their leaders and that without a basis in common Christian beliefs the union would eventually crumble.

However, based upon the idea that people should be free to practice their own religious beliefs, they included in the first amendment that the congress was to create no legislation with regards to religious practice. That meant that the federal government could neither establish an official state religion nor prohibit the states from doing so.

As can be seen by the records of the first and second congresses under the constitution the first amendment in no way prevented the government from hiring chaplains or from declaring days of Thanksgiving.

In the early years of our nation some states did have established state religions, but bills were passed or constitutional amendments were ratified allowing for freedom of religion within the first couple of decades.

While the founding fathers felt that the people should choose Christians as their leaders, a state mandated religious test for office would also violate the right of the people to freedom of religion, thus the constitution includes a clause prohibiting the use of a religious test as a requirement for holding office. Thus, voters have the right to choose to elect only leaders from one religion or to not do so.

Much of the confusion that has occured in regards to the religion portions of the first amendment has to do with the phrase "wall of separation between church and state". This phrase was from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson who was reassuring a baptist group that the religious freedom legislation then being considered in Virginia would not allow the government to exclude minority (or majority) religious groups from equal access to public facilities. This comment made by Jefferson was a reference to the Virginia bill. Jefferson was not in a position to give an interpretation of the first amendment. He was not actively involved in the creation of the constitution or the first amendment, because he was serving as the U.S. minister to France at the time.

Another area of confusion has been the use of the fourteenth amendment to apply the first amendment to the states. The fourteenth amendment only requires that states give equal treatment to all people under the law. It was intended to put a stop to Jim Crow laws. This did not in any way require that states adopt federal laws.

Since the late 1930's the Supreme court has switched from interpreting the law to creating law. They have used the 14th amendment to claim, for instance, that public schools run and funded by the states could not allow teacher led prayer. (This was essentially a grab for power by the federal judiciary and was a violation of states rights.) The constitution in fact allows for teacher led prayer as long as participation in such prayer is voluntary.

Answer 7

Things will tend to lean where there is a majority. Of course I want my freedom of religion, not forced. But you do realize if the country(the USA) had a majority of Muslims, things would be similiar. Just a different group shouting. When we truly are FORCED to choose or lose, then we have problems.

Answer 8

the reason of it extremely is being closed-minded. some will say that they are for freedom of religion, despite the fact that that could be an insignificant facade. they are asserting the words basically for social recognition, while on the interior they sense something else completely. while one feels something on the interior that is discordant with their words, their habit will at last raise the veil of cover and dishonesty, exposing what they quite sense. That, my chum, is what we call hypocritical... not working in the direction of what one preaches.

Answer 9

The U.S. was most definitely founded as a Christian nation. Only under Christianity does one find freedom. No other group, church or country upholds total freedom. Freedom IS a Christian subject.

To set up a nation, even the Christians understood the values outside it's own beliefs. That is, of course, concerning government.

Only in a Christian nation, can one find freedom from religion as well as freedom of religion. Try that in Irac.

The forefathers of this nation, came out from the tyranny of the Catholic church. They broke loose from captivating laws. The same laws that originally landed them in prison. After knowing the evil of a 'government church', is it any wonder why they came here with a mutual attitude toward government mixing with church?

Answer 10

I want freedom OF religion. I have never forced anything on anyone.

I would appreciate a little respect and acceptance and a lot less being called names.
Why is it that some atheists think it amusing to mock us? IS their life so empty that they have nothing more to do?
Is it really that much fun? How sad!