Essay --

Freedom of Religion The individual right to freedom of religion means that you can freely practice your religion without the government interfering. It’s in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights, in the Constitution, it protects all U.S. citizens to a certain extent. The first amendment went into effect on December 15th, 1791. 1The first amendment states â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof† (American Civil Liberties Union). There are two clauses in the U.S. Constitution that guarantee freedom of religion. The Establishment Clause which prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official religion. There is also the Free Exercise Clause, it prohibits the government from interfering with someone’s practice of religion (LII). The first amendment also sets a fine line between states’ rights and the churches rights (Black,130). Throughout time, many things have happened to w here the first amendment has had to been set into play. In 1620, a large group of settlers moved into the New England area, and formed individual colonies. This group was known as the Puritans. The Puritans fled Europe in search of religious freedom, which was not granted by the Church of England. The church expected everyone to turn to the Catholic religion. They worked toward religious reforms, so they could purify the church and their own lives. However, they discovered the church was far beyond reform because it was so powerful (Kizer, Kay). They realized the only way to purify their lives was to break away from the Church of England. They came to America where they could freely practice their religion. At this point in time there was neither a law against nor ... ...ace where every religion is accepted and welcome. It’s supposed to be a place where you can freely practice your religion without people discriminating against it (Washington Times). Another con is that some displays of symbols can be a violation of freedom of religion. It all depends if its for a certain season or if its to benefit or promote a certain religion (Harper, 62 and 63). Depending on what you’re showing, you can get in trouble for trying to convince people to believe in a certain religion. The public school system not allowing kids to read their religious book or let the teachers read excerpts from certain religious books, some feel isn’t right because they should be able to freely express their religion. So depending on who you’re talking about, this could be a negative or positive thing. There are also some cons to freedom of religion, as well as pros.