What the 1st Amendment does – WND.com

Ronald Reagan

On MARCH 15, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt warned at the dinner of White House correspondents: Modern tyrants find it necessary to eliminate all democracies. A few weeks ago I spoke of freedom of speech and expression, freedom of every person to worship God in his own way. If we fail if democracy is superseded by slavery then those freedoms, or even the mention of them, will become forbidden things. Centuries will pass before they can be revived. When dictatorships disintegrate and pray God that will be sooner then our country must continue to play its great part. May it be said of us in the days to come that our children and our childrens children rise up and call us blessed.

The Senate voted down letting children voluntarily pray in public schools on March 15, 1984.

President Reagan said: I am deeply disappointed that, although a majority of the Senate voted for it, the school prayer amendment fell short.

On Sept. 25, 1982, Ronald Reagan said: Unfortunately, in the last two decades weve experienced an onslaught of such twisted logic that if Alice were visiting America, she might think shed never left Wonderland. Were told that it somehow violates the rights of others to permit students in school who desire to pray to do so. Clearly this infringes on the freedom of those who choose to pray, the freedom taken for granted since the time of our Founding Fathers.

Reagan continued: To prevent those who believe in God from expressing their faith is an outrage. The relentless drive to eliminate God from our schools should be stopped.

Ronald Reagan said Feb. 25, 1984: Sometimes I cant help but feel the First Amendment is being turned on its head.

Ronald Reagan stated in a Q & A session, Oct. 13, 1983: The First Amendment has been twisted to the point that freedom of religion is in danger of becoming freedom from religion.

Reagan told the Alabama Legislature, March 15, 1982: To those who cite the First Amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions and everyday life, may I just say: The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny.

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Ronald Reagan stated in a radio address, 1982: The Constitution was never meant to prevent people from praying; its declared purpose was to protect their freedom to pray.

Ronald Reagan stated in a radio address, Feb. 25, 1984: Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart noted if religious exercises are held to be impermissible activity in schools, religion is placed at an artificial and state-created disadvantage. Permission for such exercises for those who want them is necessary if the schools are truly to be neutral in the matter of religion. And a refusal to permit them is seen not as the realization of state neutrality, but rather as the establishment of a religion of secularism.

Ronald Reagan told the Annual Convention of the National Religious Broadcasters, Jan. 30, 1984: I was pleased last year to proclaim 1983 the Year of the Bible. But, you know, a group called the ACLU severely criticized me for doing that. Well, I wear their indictment like a badge of honor.

Ronald Reagan worded it differently on the National Day of Prayer, May 6, 1982: Well-meaning Americans in the name of freedom have taken freedom away. For the sake of religious tolerance, theyve forbidden religious practice.

Ronald Reagan stated at an Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast, Aug. 23, 1984: The frustrating thing is that those who are attacking religion claim they are doing it in the name of tolerance and freedom and open-mindedness. Question: Isnt the real truth that they are intolerant of religion?

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What the 1st Amendment does - WND.com