Civil Rights and Responsibilities Essay

The appoint of Rights was added to the Constitution shortly after its ratification. These amendments guarantee certain political, procedural, and property dutys against infringement by the topic regime (Patterson, 2009). A bill of rights is what the slew be entitled to against each politics on earth, general or cross, and what no just government should ref intake, or rest on influence (Thomas Jefferson). The number one Amendment provides the foundation for immunity of fashion which is the right of individual Americans to hold and communicate views of their choosing (Patterson, 2009). The motivation of the Bill of Rights was to guarantee individual rights and licenses. The premier(prenominal) Amendment reflects this tradition, providing for exemption of godliness a desire with granting immunity of speech, press, assembly, and petition. The three provisions of the initiative Amendment are the freedom of speech, assembly and godliness.The freedom of speech states that you are free to say almost anything except that which is obscene, slanders some other soulfulness, or has a high probability of inciting others to take imminent outlaw(a) action. The freedom of assembly states that you are free to assemble, although government may gravel the time and place for reasons of world convenience safety, provided such regulations are employ stock-stillhandedly to all groups. The freedom of religion states that you are protected from having the unearthly beliefs of others imposed on you, and you are free to believe what you like. independence of religion simply means citizens contrive freedom to attend a church, synagogue, synagogue or mosque of their prime(prenominal), or not to attend at all.The First Amendment allows us to usage our religion the way we want to. When talking about freedom of religion and the First Amendment I think about religion in the schooldayss. Every since the authoritative Court held school-sponsored postulation uncon stitutional in the ahead of time 1960s, there has ben a concerted and well-funded campaign to reintroduce religion in public schools. Public schools themselves should not be in the business of promoting particular religious beliefs or religious activities and they should protect children from macrocosm coerced by others to ask religious (or anti-religious beliefs.A Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission inquiry ruled in July that the Saskatoon Board of Education must end a practice of giving teachers the option of conducting prayers in public school classrooms and assemblies. In practice, the choice has been primarily the Lords Prayer. The ruling will not revision practices in separate schools. The inquiry followed a complaint six long time ago by nine parents, including Muslims, Jews, Unitarians and atheists. About 20% of the 550 public school classrooms in Saskatoon begin the day with prayer. The decision may be appealed in court (Globe and Mail, 1999). The relationship between religion and government in the United bows when it comes to the United call downs Constitution is governed by the First Amendment to the Constitution, which both prevents the government from establishing religion and protects privately initiated religious expression and activities from government interference and discrimination.The First Amendment thus establishes certain limits on the conduct of public school officials as it relates to religious activity, including prayer. Prayer should not have been taken out of schools. Parents should be sent home a letter opting out of religious activities and employees should be given the same option, but taken it out of schools was ridiculous. The case of Engel v. Vitale (1962) went to the haughty Court and the case was about a time in 1951 the bracing York separate Board of Regents (the State board of education) approved a 22-word unsectarian prayer for recitation each morning in the public schools of brisk York. It read Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country. The Regents believed that the prayer could be a useful tool for the development of character and good citizenship among the students of the State of New York.The prayer was offered to the school boards in the State for their use, and participation in the prayer-exercise was voluntary. In New Hyde Park, New York, the Union leave office School regularise No. 9 directed the local principal to have the prayer said aloud by each class in the front of a teacher at the beginning of the school day. The parents of ten pupils in the New Hyde Park schools objected to the prayer. They filed suit in a New York State court seeking a ban on the prayer, insisting that the use of this official prayer in the public schools was contrary to their own and their childrens beliefs, religions, or religious practices. The State appeals court upheld the use of the prayer, so long as the sc hools did not compel any pupil to join in the prayer over his or his parents objection (infoplease.com).The Freedom to Assemble gives people the right to assemble sedately without causing any harm to others. As much as I do not agree with the KKK views and opinions they should be subject to assemble if they do it in a peaceful manner. The First Amendment prohibits government from abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble. This basic freedom ensures that the purport of the First Amendment survives and thrives even when the majority of citizens would rather suppress expression it finds offensive. everywhere the course of our history, freedom of assembly has protected individuals espousing myriad viewpoints. Striking workers, well-mannered rights advocates, anti-war demonstrators and Ku Klux Klan marchers have all taken to the streets and sidewalks in protest or in support of their causes.Sometimes these efforts have galvanized public support or changed public percep tions. Imagine a civil rights movement without the March on chapiter or the womens suffrage movement without ranks of long-skirted, placard-carrying suffragists filling city streets. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized the importance of this freedom in the 1937 case De Jonge v. State of Oregon, writing that the right to peaceable assembly is a right kin(p) to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental. According to the Court, the right to assemble is one that cannot be denied without violating those fundamental principles which lie at the low of all civil and political institutions (archive.firstamendmentcenter.org).The KKKs right to assemble peaceably was secured by the famous 1977 case of National Socialist Party v. Skokie, in which the American Civil Liberties Union successfully argued that the First Amendment prohibited officials of Skokie, Ill., from censor a march by the National Socialist Party. Skokie is a shekels suburb that is home to many Holocaust survivors. One federal try reasoned that it is better to allow those who preach racial hatred to spend their venom in rhetoric rather than to be panicked into embarking on the dangerous course of permitting the government to decide what its citizens may say and mind (archive.firstamendmentcenter.org).In conclusion, the First Amendment of the United States protects the rights to freedom of religion and freedom of expression as well as freedom of assembly from government interference. Freedom of expression consists of the rights to freedom of speech, press, assembly and to petition the government for a overcompensate of grievances, and the implied rights of association and belief. The Supreme Court interprets the extent of the protection afforded to these rights. The First Amendment has been interpret by the Court as applying to the entire federal government even though it is only expressly applicable to Congress. Two clauses in the First Amendment guarantee freedom of religion. The constitution clause and the Free Exercise Clause are two clauses in the First Amendment that guarantee freedom of religion.The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another. It enforces the separation of church and state. The Free Exercise Clause prohibits the government, in most instances, from interfering with a persons practice of their religion. The right to assemble allows people to gather for peaceful and lawful purposes. Implicit within this right is the right to association and belief. With that being said, all people should be having some kind of freedom. They should be able to boycott and assemble peacefully without causing any harm to anyone. lot should be free to have their different views and opinions of religion, be it that they religious or anti-religious. To sum it all up I would love for everyone to feel that they are free.Referenceshttp//www.oyez.org/cases/196 0-1969/1961/1961_468http//www.aclu.org/religion-belief/program-freedom-religion-and-belief-government-funded-religionReligion in schools (teachers in Saskatchewan will no longer have the option of conducting prayer services in class). Humanist in Canada one hundred thirty (1999) 4, 39. General OneFile. Web. 25 June 2012.http//www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/religionandschools/prayer_guidance.html