Reflections of the First Amendment

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Reflections of the First Amendment
Reflections of the First Amendment
University of Phoenix
HIS/301- The United States Constitution


Reflections of the First Amendment
The First Amendment, also called the Great Amendment, is in many ways the cornerstone of America’s free, open, and tolerant society. The First Amendment is the basis of a democracy that values individual liberty. The amendment protects the freedom of religion, press, speech, assembly, and petition. It guarantees that Americans can share the information they need for a strong public debate on the issues, and to act on the issues. The five freedoms specifically protected in the First Amendment are not mutually exclusive, so there has been considerable overlap in real-life cases.
Freedom of Religion
The First Amendment guarantees that the government will not prefer one religion over another. It also guarantees that the government will not prefer religion in general over nonreligion or the lack of religion. The protections for religion in the First Amendment are two-sided. The Establishment Clause says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”while the Exercise Clause says, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof .The Establishment Clause is considered absolute; the government cannot prohibit anyone from establishing or following their own religion.
In one of the first religion cases to come before the Supreme Court, a Utah man asked the justices ...

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Submitted by: lmmcq1960
Date Submitted: 07-29-2011
Category: Politics
Words: 1883
Pages: 7.53