The First Amendment: How Do We Exercise Freedom of Religion for All?

Lifelong Learning North Iowa Area Community
 College September 17, 2019, Constitution Day  

About 90 people came and engaged in wonderful conversation                                                                                         

 Norma Cook Everist, professor

Brief History of Freedom of Religion
 and U.S. Relationship of Religion and 
Government (“Church and State”)

1.    Disestablishment occurred gradually,
 state by state, over a 50-year period in
 the new United State of America.

2.    Disestablishment meant denominationalism
 and promised inclusion of all religions.

3.    Debate remains to this day as to the
 meaning of “separation of church and state.”

1^st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: 
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 the
 right of the people peaceably to assemble,
 and to petition the Government for a
 redress of grievances.

1.    The establishment clause: The nation
 gives privilege to all religions without
discrimination.

2.    The free exercise clause: Religious
 freedom means that I and my neighbor
 both have religious freedom.

Various Positions on Religion and
 Government

1.    One Religion Dominating the Nation
and Over the Government

2.    The Government Dominating All Religions

3.    One Religion Privileged Above 
All Other Religions: A State Religion

4.    A Civil Religion: The Symbols,
 Shrines, Holy Days, Rituals and 
Creeds of Nationalism Linked to a Religion

5.    Institutional Separation and
Functional Interaction: Healthy Pluralism  

Kinds of Separation  

1.    Structural Separation

2.    Absolute Separation

3.    Transvaluing Separation

4.    Supportive Separation

5.    Equal Separation

Time to Talk with each other

1.    Why do you think that the no
 “establishment” clause” is important
 and how can we help understand
 and support all religions without
 discrimination?

2.    How does “functional interaction”
 take us beyond just “being nice” or 
saying “this is a free country” to caring
 about the problems of the world and
 the needs of our neighbors?

Encountering Religious Diversity

1.    Religious diversity has continually shaped
American society, starting with the
 indigenous peoples.

2.    We can make common commitments and 
accept new callings.

3.    We cannot really know another’s belief, but
 we can ask and respect and work together.

Religion in Public Schools

1.    God is not forbidden in the public schools
. Each student comes as a person with a
 belief system and perhaps as a member 
of a faith community.

2.    We need schools to be safe, trustworthy
, places to be different together, not
 places of fear.  

3.    We need schools to teach how the
 natural world functions; we do not look
 to science to answer religious questions.

4.    The schools approach to religion
 should be awareness and instruction
 not indoctrination or conversion.

5.    There should be equitable access
 to public/community quality education
 for all regardless of race, religion,
 social-economic background, etc.   

Current Challenges of Religious Freedom
for Living in the Public World Together

1.    Faith Communities Tax Exempt Status:
 Speaking on Political Issues, Telling
People How to Vote, Preaching on
 Social Statements

2.    Commerce in the public arena: 
religious freedom as a justification
 for discrimination against serving
 certain customers

3.    Religious freedom of employers
 and the restriction of the rights of 
employees

4.    Religious restrictions of
 child-placement
 agencies in regard to foster 
care and adoption

5.    Opening Municipal and 
Legislative Meetings

Time to talk with each other

1.    Share examples of public schools
 teaching about religion and being
 a place for people to appreciate
 religious diversity.

2.    Which issues of religious freedom 
and religion and government challenge 
you today? Select one to talk about
 together.

Other Important Freedoms in the First 
Amendment (all in the same sentence)

1.    Freedom of Speech

2.    Freedom of the Press

3.    Freedom to Peaceably Assemble

4.    Freedom to Petition the Government
 for a Redress of Grievances 

Fridays for the Future: Youth Lead in Climate Crisis

Greta Thunberg, 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, led a group of young people to the White House lawn this Friday insisting those inside act like grown-ups to do something about the global climate crisis. These past months Greta has been leading a global movement of school students to make a statement every Friday: “Fridays for the Future.” She has galvanized the world’s young people who know action must be taken now. She spoke this summer at the World Economics Forum in Switzerland and is looking forward to the United Nations General Assembly next week in NYC.

When asked in a television interview aired Friday night on Public television why she thinks there is so much inaction on the climate crisis, she said she thinks that human beings often are of two minds morally, saying they are concerned about an issue, but they “go along” with society which they see is not doing anything to change.  When asked what has led her to step forward, she replied that she believes it is due in part to her being on the autism spectrum. “I don’t usually follow society coding, but go my own way.”  She speaks in a very intelligent, sophisticated manner about the need for both individual action and systemic policy change.  Her passionate, persistent activism is inspiring youth around the world and adults as well to become more aware of and feel the urgency of the climate change crisis.

Cherokee Nation to Send Delegate to U.S. Congress

      The Cherokee Nation will exercise its treaty rights and send Kimberly Teehee to Washington D.C. as its first-ever delegate to the U.S. Congress, marking a new strategy in the ongoing fight for the survival and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples in the United States.

        “This journey is just beginning and we have a long way to go to see this through to fruition,” Teehee said. “However, a Cherokee Nation delegate to Congress is a negotiated right that our ancestors advocated for, and today, our tribal nation is stronger than ever and ready to defend all our constitutional and treaty rights.”

       Confirmed as a delegate by the Cherokee Nation Council on August 30,  Teehee grew up in Oklahoma and cut her teeth in politics in the 1980s, interning for Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to become principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. She previously worked for President Barack Obama’s administration as the first-ever senior policy adviser for Native American Affairs in the White House Domestic Policy Council, and has over a decade of experience in Washington, D.C. She has advocated for environmental justice, tribal self-determination, economic growth, health care and education — issues that impact all of Indian Country. 

         Coming at a time when Immigration issues dominate conversation, it is appropriate to focus on political victories for Native Americans.  In November 2018, Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk Nation) and Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) became the first Native American women elected to Congress. Kimberly Teehee will be the third Indigenous woman to represent Indigenous nations in Congress. Unlike Davids and Haaland, however, Teehee will not have the right to vote when the House is in open session. She will, however, be able to participate in committees as a voting member and bring legislation to the floor. This is an important distinction to make: Haaland and Davids are elected members of a congressional district, operating from within the U.S. representational system. Teehee stands as a delegate of a sovereign nation; it is the power of treaties which recognize nation-to-nation agreements that make Teehee’s presence in Congress possible.

       “I think more broadly, we want affirmation that our treaties are still in full force and effect,” Chief Hoskin told Truthout. “You can say that in a theoretical sense, but to actually do it, we’re demonstrating in a real concrete way that the treaty is still alive, it’s a living and breathing document.”

           More than 500 treaties have been signed between Indigenous nations and the colonial United States government, considered under the U.S. Constitution to be the “supreme law of the land.” In the early days of occupation and white settlement, treaties were used to mark land boundaries as well as establish political, economic and military agreements between Indigenous peoples and growing numbers of settlers and colonial powers. Ojibwe scholar Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark reminds us that, “Indigenous nations primarily saw treaties as living relationships, diplomatic processes that enabled the expansion of intricate kin-based networks situated within a relational paradigm that saw the world as a deeply interconnected and interdependent place.” In other words, treaty documents outline responsibilities and obligations that have been agreed upon by the United States government and which it is required to honor and uphold. A treaty is not a relic of history, but an ongoing, living set of relationships.

[This News from Truthout]