Day: April 5, 2011

Of course not.
However, as I have been examining, Bryan Fischer seems to think so. Fischer says that the First Amendment only protects the religious expression of Christianity. According to Fischer non-Christian religions have no Constitutional protect but may be tolerated.
Today, the Christian Post and Crosswalk published a more detailed treatment of the topic where I address the claims that the author of the First Amendment, James Madison, and the members of Congress only meant to protect Christianity. Although the dominant religion was indeed Christianity, the words of Madison and Jefferson make clear that the right envisioned was an individual right of conscience and not tied to a particular religion.
In the article today, I mention a book by William Lee Miller, titled The First Liberty. I highly recommend this book. In it, Miller examines the influence Rhode Island’s Roger Williams had on John Locke, who in turn influenced James Madison. Even more direct was the intellectual line from Williams to Baptists Isaac Backus and John Leland. Leland had direct influence on Madison.
Miller provides ample evidence of Williams commitment to religious freedom. For instance, according to Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Williams was “the first legislator in the world…that fully and effectively provided for and established free, full and absolute liberty of conscience.”
Connecting the dots, Miller adds:

Williams name and conviction were carried into the period of the American Revolution and founding by John Leland in Virginia and by Isaac Backus in New England. Leland, as noted, was the most important leader with whom James Madison made his moral understanding at the time in 1787-1788 that the issue of ratification of the Constitution was being debated in the states — most significantly in Virginia. Leland gave voice to the complaint against the Constitution that it had no bill of rights, and in particular no explicit protection of religious liberty. Madison made with Leland his consequential moral agreement: You support the Consitution now; I will introduce a bill of rights as amendments in the first Congress. So that was one way the ghost of Roger Williams made its way into the founding documents.

Williams “free, full and absolute liberty of conscience” is much closer to what we have in the First Amendment than Fischer’s limited vision. The Constitution then, and now via the 14th Amendment and numerous Supreme Court decisions, provide protection for adherents of all religions and none.
The article after the break: Continue reading “Did the First Amendment make America a Christian nation?”

UG Pulse is on the scene:

There was drama at Parliament this afternoon when police officers threw out anti-homosexuality activists for failure to seek permission to hold a press conference.
The fracas ensued after one of the activists; Derick Waiswa addressed the media, shortly after meeting the chairman of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee, Stephen Tashobya, whose committee is scrutinizing the controversial Anti Homosexuality bill.
Waiswa, who claims to be a Makerere University student, earlier told the media that Parliament should fast track the passing of the bill before the 8th Parliament closes to protect the citizens from what he describes as inhumane acts of homosexuals.
The Officer in charge of the Parliament Police Station, Erias Kasirabo, together with other police officers then arrested Waiswa and held him for trespass before he was released shortly after.
A few weeks ago, Tashobya revealed that the Anti Homosexuality bill would be passed before the 8th Parliament closes.

 Hon. Tashobya has not been answering his phone or emails since last week so it hard to tell what the plan is. However, as I noted yesterday, the Marriage and Divorce Bill has not yet been considered, which is supposed to be next up from the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee.