Perhaps the single most important right we have as United States citizens is the right to free speech guaranteed us by the First Amendment. Words are the power that drives the machinery of our democracy. With out it, the will of the people, the highest authority in the United States could not be made into action by our government. It is the very life of our country. It is our weapon against tyranny. It is words, not men that we hold in highest regard. It is the Declaration of Independence that gave birth to our country, the Constitution of the United States that we protect and honor. Both of these documents are just words on parchment and yet are more powerful instruments of law than any machine of war. When we speak it is often to persuade, to share ideas, philosophies, beliefs. We can talk to others about our religion, our political views, and our beliefs.
As with any other weapon, words should be used with great care and not thrown about with out knowledge of there origin or care for there result. In our democracy what we say matters. As powerful as our right to express our selves is, it is not without flaw. Ignorance on any subject can undermine our words by taking away other's belief in us that we know what we are talking about. It removes the inherent authority that every person has over their own thoughts. If you try to persuade someone that the United States is a Christian country and use the carvings of Moses and the Ten Commandments in the Supreme Court house as examples. Do the research and you may discover that along with Moses is Confucius and Hammurabi and many other great law givers of our past. Which if one decides that we are Christian due to the Moses carvings, than the argument should also apply equally to the idea we are a pagan nation, an Islamic nation thanks to a frieze containing among other historical figures, the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
But the truth is we are not a Christian nation, or a pagan nation, or an Islamic nation. We are a nation OF Christians, Pagans, and Islamists. In fact the very stability of our nation is its ability and duty to not hold one religion over another.
As a nation we must tone down the Christian rhetoric or tone up ALL the speech of other beliefs. The job of our nation is to allow all, not to support or suppress any.
As with any other weapon, words should be used with great care and not thrown about with out knowledge of there origin or care for there result. In our democracy what we say matters. As powerful as our right to express our selves is, it is not without flaw. Ignorance on any subject can undermine our words by taking away other's belief in us that we know what we are talking about. It removes the inherent authority that every person has over their own thoughts. If you try to persuade someone that the United States is a Christian country and use the carvings of Moses and the Ten Commandments in the Supreme Court house as examples. Do the research and you may discover that along with Moses is Confucius and Hammurabi and many other great law givers of our past. Which if one decides that we are Christian due to the Moses carvings, than the argument should also apply equally to the idea we are a pagan nation, an Islamic nation thanks to a frieze containing among other historical figures, the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
But the truth is we are not a Christian nation, or a pagan nation, or an Islamic nation. We are a nation OF Christians, Pagans, and Islamists. In fact the very stability of our nation is its ability and duty to not hold one religion over another.
As a nation we must tone down the Christian rhetoric or tone up ALL the speech of other beliefs. The job of our nation is to allow all, not to support or suppress any.
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