Companion Lesson: Religion & the First Amendment

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof[.]”

It’s First Amendment Day. Not only because of the fall-out from the Live Oak Five, but because today is the “National Day of Prayer”.   All we need now is government censoring of the press …

The National Day of Prayer is established by statute:

The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals. 36 U.S.C. § 199.

In my opinion, this statute does not pass the Lemon Establishment Clause test (Prong 1: “The statute must have a secular legislative purpose”).  This is not to say that the government is establishing a religion.  At most, this statute assumes there is an underlying belief in “God” (or other supernatural deity) who people “turn to in prayer”.

From my perspective of the world, belief in God does not equal a religion.  Yes, belief in God is a fundamental belief in many religions, but it’s not religion in and of itself.  (If it were, why haven’t the world’s religions merged already?)  I can believe that God exists and has brothers and sisters that are in charge of their own universes.  Is that belief a religion?  Religion, to me, is more than that.

But I understand that there are those in the world who do equate the acknowledgment that God exists as being religious, thus, the government should have nothing to say on the matter.

It’s been a constant struggle between two sets of people:  those advocating for complete separation of church and state and those who don’t mind religion being mentioned, as long as one religion isn’t favored over the other.  From the cases I’ve read regarding the Establishment Clause, it really is a toss-up on who wins on a certain issue.

Honestly though, I am fine with a National Day of Prayer.  Prayer is predominately a religious exercise, but I do not see prayer as an exclusive exercise.  Not all practitioners of religion pray, and not all prayers are religious.

When you say, “I wish … “, who are you saying it to?  Why is constant positive thinking to obtain what you want, “The Secret”?  I see these as prayers, even though the person may not have a religious motivation behind it.  I don’t expect others to agree with what I believe to be is prayer.

In my life, I have done a lot of soul searching when it comes to religion and God and my place in all of this.  I grew up in a lifestyle that have adopted many canons from many religions (Christianity, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and a little bit of “Pagan”); this is what works for me.  And this is why I am fine with the government acknowledging the fact that people are religious.  I don’t see all of this as the United States mandating religion on anyone.  People are free to disagree with the government on this issue; they’re not going to jail for it.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this: the United States acknowledging that people pray, that people are religious, and says, “Go ahead and pray today” isn’t my idea of establishing a religion.

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I edited the First Amendment at the beginning of this blog, so here it is in all its glory:

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