“The Bill of Rights is 230 Years Old!” By MRFF Board Member John Compere
JohnCompere_FlagBG_1200x628
Our American Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments to the US Constitution, became effective on December 15, 1791 after passage by Congress and ratification by the states. They will be 230 years old on December 15 which is “BILL OF RIGHTS DAY”.
December 15th was designated as the national observance day on the 150th anniversary in 1941 by 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt who declared our Bill of Rights “…the great American charter of personal liberty and human dignity.” .
The Bill of Rights guarantees all Americans the following individual liberties –
1st – right to freedom from religion, freedom of religion and freedom of speech, press, peaceable assembly and grievance petition.
2nd – right to keep and bear arms.
3rd – right to freedom from forced housing of soldiers without consent or law.
4th – right to freedom from search and seizure without probable cause and sworn warrant.
5th – right of criminal accused to grand jury determination, no double jeopardy, no self-incrimination and no private property seizure without just compensation.
6th – right of criminal accused to fair and speedy trial by impartial jury, witness confrontation, compulsory witness process and defense counsel.
7th – right of civil litigants to jury trial and fact determination by jury protected.
8th – right to freedom from excessive bail, fine and punishment.
9th – rights provided may not deny or disparage others retained by the people.
10th – rights not provided federal government are reserved to the states or the people.
The 1st Amendment provides our historic religious freedom by prohibiting the government from establishing or endorsinga religion. Our government is required to remain neutral regarding religion (i.e. neither pro-religion nor anti-religion but religion-neutral).
The 1st Amendment together with Article VI of the Constitution (“…no religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” ) lawfully separate religion and government (aka: separation of church and state). Most state constitutions also separate church and state. Jesus even separated government and religion (Matthew 22:21;Mark 12:17).
Genesis for the 1st Amendment was the landmark 1786 Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison which mandated “No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever.”
The 1st Amendment provided the basis for that part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948 which declared “…everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion”.
The 1st Amendment also provides and protects freedom of belief (religious or non-religious) for our Armed Forces. The regulations of all military branches therefore recognize, respect and require individual belief freedom. For example, the Department of Defense officially recognizes 221 different faith or belief groups for the military and the Department of Veteran Affairs officially recognizes 79 different faith or belief emblems for military graves. Military chapels are available for those wanting religious worship and military chaplains are available for those wanting religious instruction.
The Constitution Preamble states six secular reasons the nation was established by and for “We the People”. The Constitution contains no reference to any authority other than the people and their government. It is historically significant the United States became the first nation independently established by the people with no acknowledgment of higher authority (e.g. emperor, monarch, dictator, deity, religion, scripture, etc.).
We have many individual rights under the Constitution but they are never absolute. Our national, state and local governments have the moral responsibility, lawful authority and public duty to protect the public health during a public health crisis as held in the US Supreme Court cases of Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 US 11 (1905), Zucht v. King, 260 US 174 (1922), et al. Americans have no constitutional right to refuse to follow mandatory public health protections and knowingly spread a highly contagious and deadly disease that kills fellow Americans. Those who claim otherwise are mistaken, misinformed and misguided.
On this 230th birthday of the American Bill of Rights, we can truly cherish with patriotic pride, respectful reverence and genuine gratitude the many individual liberties constitutionally guaranteed for all Americans.
Brigadier General John Compere, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, US Army (Retired)
Former Chief Judge, US Army Court of Military Review and US Army Legal Services Agency
Disabled American Veteran (Vietnam Era)
Board Member, Military Religious Freedom Foundation
Texas rancher
Recent Posts
8 Comments
Comments are closed.
IF
“The Bill of Rights guarantees all Americans the following individual liberties –
1st – right to freedom from religion, freedom of religion and freedom of speech, press, peaceable assembly and grievance petition.”
The Actual words are:
Amendment I
“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.”
Why did Mikey Weinstein and your organization complain about dog tags with Religious on them?
Either we are FREE or we are NOT.
Please find the words “Separation of church and state” anywhere in our Constitution and while looking find where the concept applies to the citizens of our country to suppress religious beliefs when the bill of rights specifically says the peoples’ rights should not be controlled or limited by the government.
“free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people”
The ONLY limit it toward the government to protect everyone’s right to religious freedom yet your group filed a complaint to stop military members freedom to carry religious reminders on personal dog tags that are not even military /government equipment.
If your group actually believes in military religious freedom then tell Mikey Weinstein to stop being a hypocrite..and learn to read.
Zane Overstreet , SMSgt Retired USAF
Zane Overstreet,
Really, you retired from the USAF and you couldn’t find one reason as to why Shields of Strength got into trouble with the DOD. That’s at least a decade or so of living, breathing, eating, and pooping rules and regs and you’ve not a Scooby Doo as to why the MRFF was called in for assistance.
Ok
I for one are mightily glad you are retired because if you brought this level of comprehension to your past job… well, I pity your teammates.
Tried to be nice but yoiks!! You walked into that one Zane.
I find it interesting that you ignore the statements in the Declaration of Independence that reference a Creator…..”that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Or
the fact that the colonies repeatedly appealed to God the Supreme Judge of the world. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. I am not going to list all the signers of this document, but I am sure you are aware that the authors of it also wrote the Constitution…..Thomas Jefferson for one. Do you think they left their beliefs and convictions behind when they wrote that? They pleged everything they had to each other with God’s protection. Same men…Same Founding Father’s. Why are you so anti-religion? You afraid of Jesus. Or will you next claim HE doesn’t exist? He does and you are going to meet Him one day. And I am delighted to inform you, you WILL bow before Him.
Janet Mrakovich, The Constitution and Bill of Rights are the rules which govern us. The Declaration of Independence is a break up letter with King George.
I know exactly who put in their two cents in writing the Constitution and yes, the founding fathers (some, not many) wanted religion included in our laws. That viewpoint was voted down. I have the best joke ever to explain why:
From Emo Phillips
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!”
Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.
Silly and pointless. You could say the same about atheists, democrats, radicals, progressives….they all have varying degrees to their beliefs or lack thereof. The common denominator with all of you is that you aren’t advocating for religious freedom, just freedom from anything Christian. It is obvious since your organization has never protested anything Muslim or Jewish, or any number of other religions. Just the Christian faith. If you actually believed in religious freedom you would support those who do not want….say wreaths on a fallen family members grave….rather than trying to stop ALL other families from having wreaths on their family member’s grave. Represent the FEW who would opt out and leave the rest alone. The same applies to the SHIELDS OF FAITH.
When you speak about a deadly disease and claim that Americans have no right to refuse a mandate…here are some things you should consider. First of all, you are talking about covid which has a RECOVERY RATE of 99.97% with our own immune system. Second, you make no statement about the hundreds of thousands of Vax injured or dead people. This is a clear case where the so called “cure” is much worse than the disease. I have family members and close friends who unfortunately chose to get the jab, and every one of them except one is having health problems shortly after receiving the shot. Serious heart problems and heart attacks, hemorrhaging needing surgery, blood clots and strokes have been the result of this deadly shot. Those of us who are “pure bloods” have never contracted covid or had it and recovered with no additional problems and have better immunity than the people who got two shots and now are being told to get a booster. No thank you. We do not need the graphene oxide and hydroxide wreaking havoc in our blood stream. We do not need the spike proteins. If you want to play Russian roulette with your life, go ahead. The well informed rest of us will watch what happens a few months or years down the road. Would you like to explain why so many pregnant women are losing their babies after getting the shot…or what is wrong with the babies who survive the womb, but have multiple health issues after birth. Tell me how a healthy seven year old child has a stroke and brain hemorrhage less than a week after getting the shot? Or how athletes are dropping over on the fields of play, dying or finding out they have serious heart issues. Fools…..but not all of us.
Janet Mrakovich said “It is obvious since your organization has never protested anything Muslim or Jewish, or any number of other religions. Just the Christian faith.”
Asked and answered Janet Mrakovich. Only Christianists are being penalized for breaking the norms, rules, and regulations that EVERYONE ELSE follows.
If anyone else behaved as Christianists have in the past and continue to do so today… well, it would be extremely messy with all those exploding heads.
As for stating the best joke ever is silly, well… of course it’s silly. Because it’s also true. The fact you can’t see the humor is telling Janet Mrakovich.
Hmmm. Appears Wise One has been diving in the data slurry that is VAERS.
You do know, WO, that correlation does not equate to causation? I know you may have forgotten the lesson. Try stepping closer to the river of knowledge and drink deeply instead of relieving yourself in its sacred waters.
Just a thought