First Amendment Blues

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 of the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Politicians, lawyers and philosophers have argued about what these words mean for more than two centuries and vast libraries have been filled with books trying to explain and interpret these 46 words. The fact is the First Amendment is as vague and ambiguous as a lover’s promise. That’s why they’ve been arguing about it all these years.

The 46 words of the First Amendment can be broken down into six basic parts. Let’s have a look at each of them in turn.

1. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion …” That seems at first glance to be fairly straightforward, yet many laws respecting the establishment of religion have been passed and subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court. Tax exempt status, anti-polygamy laws, child abuse prohibitions and much more; it’s a lengthy list. Religious fundamentalists of every stripe have used this amendment to justify all manner of evil. Generally this is taken to mean that you should be required by law to believe whatever interpretation of whatever revealed truth that this or that religion thinks you should believe. What this phrase really means is that there can be no mandated Church of America. When the First Amendment was written the world had had quite enough of religion as government, thank you very much.

2. “…or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” “It’s freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.” That’s the mantra. Freedom of religion means nothing unless it leaves one the option of not believing. Let me believe whatever I believe, but don’t inflict your beliefs on me. I’ll happily do the same for you. I’ll even grant the possibility that you may be right, if you’ll extend me the same courtesy.

3. “…or abridging the freedom of speech…”. What these words mean is: I can tell you what I think they mean. Although it is often argued that freedom of speech refers only to political speech a valid argument can be made that at some level all speech is political. That does not mean that anyone is obliged to agree. Feel free to argue. Any idea worth having is worth defending. That being said, you do not have the right to slander anyone (to slander means to knowingly speak an untruth). Nor do you have the right to yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater, unless there actually is a fire in that crowded theater. Then it’s your duty to yell “Fire!”. Does “freedom of speech” mean that students in a public school can be compelled to pray or that religious dogma can be taught in lieu of science? No, but it isn’t really spelled out very clearly. This is the Catch 22 that keeps Constitutional scholars and lawyers so busy year after year.

4. “…or of the press…” No one is obliged to print or broadcast on radio, television or Internet or otherwise disseminate any opinion of mine, yours or anyone else’s. What that means is that if you do have an outlet for whatever jackass brayings you may want to throw out there, you can say pretty much what you want to, so long as it’s not libelous (to libel is to knowingly publish or broadcast an untruth; it’s the written, printed or broadcast equivalent of slander). Some folks, lawyers for weaselly corporate types for instance, insist that free speech goes too far if it causes material harm. The whole point of freedom of speech and of the press is to expose the malefactors of society, be they businesspersons, agents of government, clergy or whomever. This is not to say that there won’t be consequences. There may well be. Free speech tends to piss people off. You could lose your job or be denied academic tenure or be socially ostracized or threatened or beaten up by some disgruntled individual or any number of other unpleasant events. All the Constitution guarantees is that the government cannot legally bar you from saying your piece.

5. “…or of the right of the people to peaceably assemble…” Nothing is more frightening to a tyranny than an unruly mob except a quiet and deliberate mob. It was just such a mob that gathered in Philadelphia in 1775 to draft the Declaration of Independence.

6. “…and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” You can petition the government all you want and then some, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get redressed. Basically this means that you won’t get punished by the government for asking. Any other consequences that may ensue are a whole different matter.

Freedom ain’t for wimps. It’s hard work and study and discipline; all those things that kept me from making the Honor Roll year after year.

All this is only my opinion, of course. I’m not a lawyer or a scholar or even particularly educated, but I have mulled the whole thing over at some length. That, again, in my opinion, is a worthwhile exercise in itself.