James Madison was an original member of the first Continental Congress, constitutional Congress, and the first House of Representatives, also the fourth president of the United States of America, known as the father of the Constitution, and the original writer or author  of the Bill of Rights & helped write the Federalist papers also one of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence.

James Madison in writing the Bill of Rights and what was to become the First Amendment to the Constitution, in his original proposal to the House of Representatives, on June 8,1789, wrote this Freedom of Religion Amendment, "The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious beliefs or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal right of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretense, infringed."  He introduce this separately from his Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press Amendment, they were both passed separately as Amendments by the House of Representatives, and they were later brought together by the Senate to form the First Amendment, along with the Right to Petition the Government for Redress of Grievances or the Right of Dissent, and the Right to Peaceably Assemble, or the Right to Freedom of Association.       

  We have an inalienable right of conscience; in the affirmative and in the negative. We have the inalienable right to say the Pledge of Allegiance; we also have the same inalienable right not to say the Pledge of Allegiance, in the same way we have a right to say prayer or not to say a prayer.  Under the First Amendment to the Constitution we have the right to free religious expression, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, it also says that these rights shall not be restricted or abridged.  We also have the same right not to express or say anything at all.  No one, not even the government has a right to limit, or restrict, or ban anybody else's freedom or Liberty; anywhere or at anytime, including Government run schools and Government buildings. We have the right of conscience to say what ever we like; this is what freedom of speech means, also to write whatever we like, under freedom of the press. But we also have the right of conscience to say or write nothing at all. The Government has no Constitutional right to restrict, or limit, or abridge, or ban our freedom of speech, or our freedom of conscience, or freedom of religion, or our freedom of the press, in Government run institutions or anywhere else.  Except if it violates our right to live free from harm, for our property and ourselves.  At the same time the government has no right to force anybody to say the Pledge of Allegiance or to say a prayer.             

  The Federal Courts and the Supreme Court has misused President Thomas Jefferson statement and metaphor, that he used in a letter written in 1802, in reply to a group of Baptists, in Danbury CT, to explain his views of religion and government.  When in that letter he used the metaphor of [the wall between the separation of church and state] as only part of his explanation of his views.  What makes this surprising, is this letter is not an official government document, but a letter merely expressing the opinions of Thomas Jefferson to a group of Baptists in Danbury CT, and especially sense he did not write the original freedom of religion proposal, Madison did, and was not there in Congress when the arguments were made that shaped the final draft of the First Amendment.  Although he was president at the time the letter was written, and yet it was cited by the Supreme Court in their legal opinion.  The federal courts and the Supreme Court has misused this quote to restrict, abridge and ban the right of conscience, the free expression of religion, our freedom of speech, and the freedom of the press in Government run schools and buildings.  Because Thomas Jefferson also wrote, "The God that gave us Life, gave us Liberty at the same time; the Hand of Force may Destroy, but it cannot but it Disjoin them."  The Government or the federal courts or the Supreme Court should have no right to restrict or abridge our right of conscience, in the affirmative or the negative, anywhere or at anytime, even in a Government run School or Building.  The Definition of a Right should be {to Protect or Expand Liberty, Not to Diminish it.}                    

I believe the federal courts and the Supreme Court has used the establishment clause by way of citing [the separation of church and state] to restrict, ban, abridge and destroy the right of the free exercise of religion clause, in Government run schools and buildings.  Walter Lippmann wrote, "Free institutions are not the property of the majority.  They do not confer upon majorities unlimited powers.  The rights of the majority are limited rights.  They are not only limited by the Constitutional guarantees but by the moral principles implied in those guarantees.  That principle is that men may not use the facilities of liberty to impair them.  No man may invoke a right in order to destroy it."  I believe the federal courts and the Supreme Court has impaired the facilities of liberty, by telling us we cannot say a prayer, or mention God, or recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, in Government run facilities such as schools and other buildings, and has invoked a right in order to destroy it, by invoking the establishment clause to prohibit, restrict, ban and abridge, the free exercise of religion, and religious expression, in government run schools and buildings.     

Taken to its logical conclusion the federal and Supreme Courts would not be able to hear a case, that mention God or religion, because to say anything about religion or God in a Federal Government run courtroom could be seen as promoting religion, and hearing a case, or rendering a decision, that had anything to do with religion or God can be seen as a violation of the separation of church and state, and seen as unconstitutional, since the Federal and Supreme Courts are both part of the Federal Government.  Also because rendering any decision about religion could be seen as a attempt to either restrict or promoted it, and both seen as unconstitutional.  The restrictions of our freedom and liberty should not be tolerated in a free and open society; we should not let the Government tell us what we can say, or not say, or where we can say it, or not say it.  We should be free to say what we like, when we like, where we like, and we should have the Inalienable Right of Conscience to do so.

The Government has the right to promote the general welfare, as it states in the Constitution, but it does not have the right to enforce it, with laws and regulations. Government should protect our rights, freedoms and Liberty, especially our inalienable right to live free from harm, for our property and ourselves. The States and the Federal Government have the right to promote health, safety and the general welfare of its citizens, through the education of its citizens, but they have no right to enforce it. It is also the right of individual citizens, to promote health, safety and the general welfare, through individual initiative, religious institutions, charities and education. The government should not have the right to enforce the general welfare upon us, through force, or the threat of force at the point of a gun, or through coercion, or through intimidation, or incarceration.  we have to be ever vigilant against the abuses of power, and the corrupting nature of power, weather is by one or many, to keep America free. 

The laws of nature are survival of the fittest, and of adapting to the surrounding environment, and human beings are better at adapting than any other species on earth. The laws of God and of humankind however have to do with the knowledge of the nature of good and evil. The laws of nature do not recognize good or evil, justice or injustice, moral or immoral, ethical or unethical behavior. Only God and humankind recognize these choices, and God has given us the inalienable right, and free will, to make these choices for ourselves. There are consequences to our choices; through the judgment of God and humanity.  We are judged on the actions that we take and the choices that we make.  God has never interfered in the actions that we take and the choices that we make, for good or evil.  In the end there is only Heavens judgment.  There can be no judgment without choice, if everything were predestined there could be no judgment of God, because we would have no choice in what we did.  From the very beginning God has given us the freedom and the free-will to choose.  There is a saying and a quote, "that evil triumphs when Good Men do nothing."   In the same way tyranny triumphs if good people do not know, protect and defend their equal and individual Rights, freedom and Liberty. We must be forever vigilant; to stay forever free, and be forever free, in the Freest Nation on Earth.

Thank you coming to this web page, please feel free to read the other pages lined at the top of this page.  For any question is and/or comments about anything I have written in the affirmative or the negative please send your e-mail to lightform@msn.com

Written by N. Scott Mills