MRFF Board Member John Compere Wishes the Bill of Rights a Happy 234th Birthday as a Radical and Regressive Religious Minority of White Christian Nationalists is Egregiously Eliminating Them
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Our American Bill of Rights is 234 years old on December 15 which is national “BILL OF RIGHTS DAY”. The Bill of Rights (the first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution) became effective on December 15, 1791 when ratified by 3/4s of the states after passage by 2/3s of Congress.
December 15th was designated as our national observance day on the 150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights in 1941 by 32nd President Franklin Roosevelt who declared them “…the great American charter of personal liberty and human dignity.” .
The Bill of Rights guarantees 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, enforcing or endorsing a religion and requiring government neutrality regarding religion (i.e. neither pro-religion nor anti-religion but religion-neutral). It is a shield of protection for the right to determine, enjoy and practice one’s own beliefs and never a sword of privilege to harm, discriminate or impose religious beliefs on Americans.
The 1st Amendment combined with Article VI [3] 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). The Texas Constitution also separates religion and government (Article I, Sections 4-7). 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 advocated by James Madison which separated church and state in Virginia and mandated “No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever.” The 1st Amendment also provided a basis for Article 18 of the historic 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”.
Amendments to the Constitution granting additional rights to American citizens have been enacted since 1791 and include slavery abolition (13th), equal civil rights (14th), black suffrage (15th), woman suffrage (19th), voting tax elimination (24th) and 18 year old suffrage (26th).
It is historically significant that the Constitution Preamble states six secular reasons the nation was established by and for “We the People”. The Constitution and its 27 amendments contain no reference to any authority but the people and their government. The United States became the first nation independently established with no acknowledgment of other authority (e.g. emperor, monarch, dictator, deity, religion, scripture, etc).
America has earnestly endeavored 234 years establishing and expanding the individual rights of Americans. However, a radical and regressive religious minority of white Christian Nationalists with the aid of predatory politicians and theocratic judges is egregiously eliminating them. On this birthday of our Bill of Rights, we must resolve to protect and preserve with patriotic pride, respectful reverence and genuine gratitude the many individual rights constitutionally guaranteed for all Americans. It is important to remember we are one nation under the Constitution and it is the Constitution in which we must trust.
John Compere
Brigadier General, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, US Army (Retired)
Former Chief Judge, US Army Judiciary
Disabled American Veteran (Vietnam Era)
Board Member, Military Religious Freedom Foundation
Texas rancher
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You do this instead of wishing our veterans and troops far from home a Merry Christmas. Shame on you and your fellow MRFF cretins. That shows how much you really care about our military (unless they send you money of course).
I’ve come to believe that our resident troll isn’t all that bright. What do I mean? Come along, hopefully I’ll be able to reveal my logic (not a guaranteed thing if you listen to my family – all in good fun and frustration, really. The love is sincere even if the understanding is presumed).
So, on a post dedicated to that thing the Old soldier says they swore an oath to defend they chose instead to promote (checks notes) religion. And not just any religion their own specific near and dear to their heart religion which they’ve repeatedly claimed, in error, is the only religion of consequence in these United States.
And therein lies the rub with all who are equally myopic when it comes to matters of faith, spirituality, and religion. Politically they all sing from the same hymn book but if anyone is in doubt as to unity of all Christians I will refer you to The Greatest God Joke by Emo Phillips. Genius in my opinion.
As I see it the Robber Baron class (I can’t say the word oligarch, you try it without teeth and lips that refuse to work when the wind is crazy) already brought the economy to it’s knees back in the day. After us ordinaries punished them with legalities they are making another run for it today only this time they brought religion along for cover.
Capitalism and Nationalist Christianity. Mmm… if we are to be cursed to live in interesting times at least they are a tasty diversion.
Anywho, the toxic combination of late stage Capitalism combined with Nationalist Christianity is precisely what the old soldier represents with their libelous words against Mikey and the MRFF, a legitimate charity which relies on donations to survive (they are honest about their money requests and how the funds are used). Noted by me is the lack of any original fundraising ideas provided by the troll. Guess when they took their oath to defend the Constitution they were lying.
I am grateful for this post. I used to have all the holidays noted but I missed this one. Now I can add it to the calendar but will also place in the notes some clips from the article to help me remember.
Happy Holidays MRFF. I am grateful you are in my life. It’s definitely more spicy this way.