Freedom email...

I wrote the following email to send to family and friends to encourage supporting separation of church and state and to announce or confirm that I am an atheist….

Hello Whomever,

A few years ago, a small group of people came together to address certain specific problems of government. Enduring summer heat, big city stench, and hordes of flies, these people met almost daily in a closed, unventilated convention hall. They contemplated the very nature of government and its relationship with those governed. . In the end they produced the most remarkable political document in history, the Constitution of the United States of America.

Every person attending believed in a god. The vast majority were Christian. For more than four months they discussed and debated every aspect of this new government. The final document mentions religion once, and that is to prohibit any religious test for holding office. This was not an oversight. The Framers sought to avoid limits on religious freedom and corruption of religious organizations by a meddling government.

Read more...

The convention considered providing for individual rights in the Constitution. The idea was rejected because many felt that listing certain rights could, in the future, be used to deny people those rights not listed. When several states objected to this omission, the Framers wrote amendments guaranteeing certain individual rights.

The amendments that were ratified became known as the Bill of Rights. It is not an accident that freedom of religion is guaranteed before all other freedoms. Freedom of religion has since become known as the First Freedom. Jefferson would later write that the effect of the First Amendment was to build a “wall of separation” between government and religion.

The Founders believed that freedom of religion is a critical individual right that must be guaranteed and preserved for all. It still is. If you remember, many of our early settlers came to the new world specifically for freedom of religion. And many more have come in the years since in search of this same freedom that we sometimes take for granted.

Today, we find religious freedom under attack. The “wall of separation” is being chipped away by those ignorant of the torment caused in Europe by the mixing of government and religion. We cannot afford to lose this precious right. It is for this reason that I encourage you to sign the petition at the First Freedom First website – http:firstfreedomfirst.org It is important!

In the interest of full disclosure, I am an atheist, but the petition is co-sponsored by The Interfaith Alliance Foundation and Americans United for Separation of Church and State (links available at the bottom of the petition site).

Thanks, trailrider