1st Amendment: Freedom of religion The freedom of religion has been a source for a lot of controversy also while being the foundation of our country, which is why I have chosen this topic for discussion.

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Hunter Hallock

10/6/2009

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Dr. Williams

1st Amendment: Freedom of religion

        The freedom of religion has been a source for a lot of controversy also while being the foundation of our country, which is why I have chosen this topic for discussion. The freedom of religion means that the people have the freedom to manifest religion or belief, practice, worship, and observance. This gives much freedom but often this freedom is taken advantage of. This amendment gives the right for anyone to establish a religion, no matter how out of the ordinary it may be as long as it abides by the laws. An individual could make up a religion to gain advantages in his or her life and it can also be used for an individual who has a legitimate practice. Either way, the freedom of religion is used to avoid persecution from the government.

         The interpretation of the amendment has drastically changed over the course of history. In the beginning, the freedom of religion had a biased look at “freedom” and the government would shun some practices and stick to formal ideas of religion. Today, the amendment has a more strict sense of “freedom” because of all the religions that are available. In my opinion, there should be some reform because there are many people who try to get away with things because of their “faith” that they truly don’t practice (I.E: the church of euthanasia, where the four pillars of the church are suicide, abortion, cannibalism, and sodomy. The member’s have an alternative suicide holiday, where they can get permission to leave work or school to attend.)

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In the beginning of America, the founding fathers were mostly part of the Christian faith but not everyone believed in their religion therefore, they saw the need to establish that everyone has the freedom of their own religion although, extremists were often not acknowledged. Later court cases would change the partial government.

A current issue that has also been highly debated is prayer in school. As of now, the ruling for this is that students may pray when not engaged in school activities or instruction, and the same goes for extra-curricular activities. Prayers in schools are sometimes masked by the ...

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