Lincoln

Jacob Rother

11/24/2015

Constitutional History

“The Culture of Disbelief”

Stephen Carter

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”1 (U.S. Constitution) There is a reason this is the First Amendment of our Constitution. It is the Foundation the United States of America was built upon. This first amendment is one of the very reasons our nation began. Freedom. Freedom of speech, and freedom of belief. This nation was a nation based upon freedoms, specific freedoms that other parts of the world do not enjoy. We as a nation have lost our way with such freedoms. We have become a nation of disbelief, a nation that is too afraid or ashamed to believe. We have lost what was once our backbone. We have lost our freedom and we owe that loss of freedom to our government. Professor Stephen Carter saw the same freedoms being taken away and wrote an inspirational political book in, “The Culture of Disbelief”. In his book, the professor makes several compelling arguments. From how far we have come from our beginnings of religious freedom then proceeding to go into the real meaning behind our First Amendment. Carter then segues perfectly into the way our government trivializes religion as well as his own opinion on those with conservative or radical religious beliefs. He eloquently argues the reason behind our First Amendment which was specifically for freedom of speech and freedom to believe and live as you please, so long as you do it peaceably. Carter does an exceptional job explaining how our government has now trivialized religious belief in our country. Our government sees religion as more of a hobby than a way of life which is what it is for many...