Pastor Martin Niemoller prophetically told the world the consequences of the loss of civil rights in his famous poem about the Nazi takeover of Germany. Though he changed the words somewhat in his many public addresses following his release from a seven-year imprisonment in two concentration camps for opposing the Nazi Regime, they are basically as follows:
"First they came for the communists, but I didn’t speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, but I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, but I didn’t speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn’t speak out because I was a Protestant.
Finally they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me."
Russell Freedman has written an important book on the meaning and importance of the Bill of Rights to the American Constitution. He tells the historical background and significance of the Bill of Rights and why the Founding Fathers of the United States were so determined to write these guarantees into the Constitution. Freedman states that the creator of the Bill of Rights, the future president, James Madison, wanted the Bill of Rights to be guarantees made to the citizens of the United States, not merely tolerant promises that could be revoked by executive will.
In his book, Freedman analyses the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution that compose the Bill of Rights, but for this review, I will look primarily at the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press, or the right of the people to peacefully assemble, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Religious persecution was one of the primary reasons for the founding of the American colonies. Many of the early colonists had been heavily fined and even driven into exile for their religious beliefs. Some of their ancestors had actually been brutally murdered in England for their religious convictions. These horrible events taught the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, the Catholics in Maryland, and the Quakers in Pennsylvania, among others, that the government can never be allowed to define religious beliefs.
State religions are created by rulers and focus on what is successful in the present world, paying virtually no attention to the next world. These state-imposed religions are always based on secular values; or what gets one ahead in this world, and will always be the enemy of true religion. Sometimes the colonists did not practice what they preached, but they all understood the immense problems of state religions.
While the Constitution was approved Sept. 17, 1787, the problem of civil rights remained. During the Constitutional Convention, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to James Madison urging the creation of a measure to permanently stop the problem of state religions. After some reflection, Madison created our magnificent Bill of Rights. The states gratefully approved the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and it was added to the document Dec. 15, 1791.
Freedman gives a comprehensive review of numerous court cases that establish the basis of the first 10 amendments. He shows that if the government can attack one of the amendments, the others are in jeopardy as well. In the terrible decision made by the Obama Administration to impose its secular values on health care, we are again facing the establishment of a national religion, and the abrogation of the Bill of Rights. Do something! Educate yourself by reading Freedman’s book, write letters, speak to your friends about these encroaching evils, and pray. This revocation of the Bill of Rights can be stopped as we still have access to the voting booth in November. If the citizens of the United States are not diligent, we will soon learn the bitter truths that Pastor Niemoller experienced.
