The best way to celebrate the 232nd anniversary of ratification of the Bill of Rights today is to work even harder to preserve it, maintains the feisty Freedom From Religion Foundation.
The scales of justice have been alarmingly tipped in favor of a privileged status for religion in our country. Christian nationalist forces are imperiling the precious American principle of separation between religion and government. All personal and civil rights — not just the right to abortion — are in jeopardy.
As FFRF’s principal founder Anne Nicol Gaylor wrote in the 1970s: “In working for women’s rights, I fought in a battle that would never end, because the root cause of the denial of those rights was religion and its control over government. Unless religion is kept in its place, all personal rights will be in jeopardy. This is the battle that needs to be fought.”
She added, “To be free from religion is an advantage for individuals; it is a necessity for government.”
The very First Amendment in the Bill of Rights reads:
“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.”
Those are words worth celebrating — and certainly worth working even harder to preserve.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is the largest freethought organization in the United States, with 40,000 nonreligious members and several chapters all across the country.
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To become an FFRF member, click here. To learn more about FFRF, request information here.
