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To the Editor:

My name is Ron Bristow and I live in Whitehouse, Texas. I happened to see your story about the FFRF attempting to stop a school in Texas from violating the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment. 

I’m a former law enforcement and a U.S. Army veteran, and I have studied the Constitution for nearly 30 years from an historical perspective which cuts through the politics and social assumptions and leaves the pure intent exposed. I would like to share with you that non-political purity concerning the First Amendment.

When politicians, social activists, and even federal judges read the First Amendment they completely miss the intent of it because they ignore the first five words of the text. The amendment reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

The focal point of the amendment is that “Congress shall make no law.” The entire amendment is a restriction on the legislative authority of Congress to make a law that restricts or promotes any religion. It has nothing to do with restricting the people, it is actually just the opposite. The amendment forbids Congress, or any legislative body from making any law (rule, statute, ordinance) that restricts the people from exercising their religious beliefs anytime or anywhere they choose. There is no restriction on the people, only the government from restricting the religious freedom of the people for any reason.

The amendment forbids Congress from making a law that promotes (establishes) a state sponsored religion, such as the Church of England was at the time the Constitution was written, and making it compulsory.

The amendment forbids Congress from making a law that shows favoritism (respecting) toward one religion over another, i.e. exempting one religion from tax liability while requiring another to pay taxes.

The bottom line is this; the First Amendment, as well as the others in the Bill of Rights, is a restriction on the legislative authority of Congress to restrict or suspend the rights described in the amendment by legislative process alone. The only way an amendment can be changed or repealed is by creating another amendment, which requires a two-thirds majority vote in favor of in both the House and the Senate. It also requires a vote in favor of by two-thirds of the states for ratification. 

There is no “establishment clause” or separation of church and state in the First Amendment. It was a fabrication by the anti-religion matriarch Madelyn Murray O’Hare in 1962 when she testified before a constitutionally ignorant Supreme Court and had prayer and Bible reading taken out of our schools.

You may want to issue a follow up story outlining this information that can assist other schools who are contacted by the anti-religion activist in the FFRF.

 

Sincerely,

Ron Bristow

Whitehouse, Texas