‘When in the course of human events… We hold these truths to be self-evident…’

‘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.’

There are many very good reasons why we have laws in this country.

We have laws, in large part, to temper the veracity of our Constitution.

This is predominantly true in regards to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Of all of the passages in the Bill of Rights; it is the First Amendment that packs what is perhaps the most resounding impact, on our lives, and on our government.

The First Amendment, which enunciates the citizens’ right to the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, a free press, and freedom of assembly and of petition, is veritably unique among all of the ten amendments comprising the Bill of Rights, in that it expounds its component freedoms as absolute human civil rights. It articulates few or no limiting qualifications; except to elaborate that the assemblies in question must be of a “peaceful” nature.

The fact that a plain-text reading of the First Amendment proclaims its comprising liberties as absolute freedoms makes it all that much more important that laws, at all levels of government passed since the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1789, have tempered the awesome impact of the passages therein.

A primary, resounding and unsettling current example of the temperance of these liberties concerns groups, cults, and organizations; throughout the country, and the ideological spectrum, founded on the principles of prejudice, discrimination, and, all-too-often, active violence towards and against those of other ideological, racial, ethnic, or religious demographics.

These groups include predominantly, but not exclusively, those of the Ku Klux Klan, and other such White-Pride groups and, conversely, Dark-Power organizations such as the Black Panthers; as well as domestic splinter cells of religious fundamentalist extremist organizations such as Al-Qaeda.

However, in more recent times, and predominantly since the turn of the millennium, this ever-growing and expanding list of groups has begun, to an increasing extent, to include more home-grown; as it were; domestic extremist organizations; and many which have assimilated themselves into our national cultural identity; infiltrating into all; even the highest, levels of our government; and ingratiating themselves into the hearts and, increasingly narrow, minds of millions of voting constituents.

These, increasingly institutionalized, organizations; with names such as “The Foundation for a Better Life”, and “Focus on the Family”; present a frequently all-too-convincing façade of innocent, pious devotion to seemingly harmless Judeo-Christian ideologies.

This charade is in stark contrast to the underhanded actual activities of such organizations; which are, in fact, radical Evangelical Christian fundamentalist extremist fronts; espousing; at the very top of their voices, and through very nearly every available medium imaginable; a reactionary Catholic religious ideology; which is, at its very core concepts; just as much founded in a base of bigotry, extreme prejudice, and active discrimination; as any ever expounded by even the most fervent figureheads of the KKK or Al-Qaeda.

The ideological absolute and theological imperatives of these organizations include a prohibition on the study and research of stem cells from human embryos; for use in medical treatments which would ultimately save millions of lives; based solely on the belief that the clusters of cells in question, frozen for months or even years in liquid nitrogen, are, in fact, a living, breathing, thinking, and feeling human beings.

This in spite of the fact that, in reality; the zygotes in question meet very nearly exactly none of the scientific qualifications which identify and define, biologically, a living being: in that it does not have an organized, centralized nervous system, digestive system, respiratory or circulatory system; and that it does not eat, breathe, sleep, think, or communicate.

This over-ambitious prohibition, however; is significantly less about the preservation of an alleged sanctity of human life.

But rather would be a component of a far broader siege on the most fundamental of the foundations of all human knowledge and understanding; Science.

As Evangelical Catholic fundamentalist ideologues; the figureheads of these radical extremist organizations view Science’s relentless and eternal quest for evidence and for proof; to answer the multitude of questions posed by the mysterious elements of the natural universe; as an assault upon the ideology of faith; which is, to them, preferably blinded; but is the operative concept within any religious ideology.

As was the case with the Inquisition in the 14 and 1500’s; and with the Crusades of previous centuries before; whenever and wherever there is any threat of an insurrection to the omnipresence of Christian religious ideological doctrine; or Dogma; whether it be real or material, or merely perceived; the Church’s response is that of a voracious, if frequently preemptive, counter-assault.

However; returning to the original point; such an assault on practical rationality should not be permitted in a civilized culture.

But if any nation, such as the United States, were to exist by merely abiding by a document such as the First Amendment; which expounds absolute rights such as the freedoms which it does; the citizenry could, quite simply and easily; conduct themselves in any variety of such activities.

Citizens could participate in any number of actions, which they could justify or rationalize as an expression of their particular respective religion; quite a list; which spans the spectrum of the gambit: from animalistic fertility rites of passage, to literal human sacrifice.
Such activities could not reasonably be expected to be tolerated; much less permitted, in a civilized culture such as ours.

This, in conclusion; to bring the line of thought to the fruition of a full circle; is why; in regards, at least, to the First Amendment; why our nation’s multiple levels of government have continued to pass laws, which temper the veracity of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights, in the 220 years since its ratification.

Ian K. Judge-Lord

11.04/08