Examining Basic Freedoms and a How to Protect Them From Radicals

This article was inspired by a question asked by a fellow hubber.

It is printed below in its original form to understand why this hub was created.

The question asked:

"Which is more important, freedom of faith or freedom of speech?
asked by stuff4kids 5 hours ago 06/21/04
Many religious folks are decent, good people. Some of my best friends subscribe to institutionalised superstition - and are good humored enough to let me say that without taking offense. But most religions per se enshrine some deeply offensive and discriminatory views and practices (against women, gays, people of other faiths, animals, freedom of thought etc.). Isn't it weird that such faith systems seek to exempt themselves from rational criticism on the grounds that they are being discriminated against? So which is more important, freedom of faith or freedom of speech?"

Freedom of speech as addressed in our original constitution was meant to allow citizens the right to voice their opinions about the government without fear of persecution.

This was a simple problem that needed to be expressed in our basic constitution.

The reason for this need was obvious since the continent from which our forefathers came had governments that suppressed people from criticizing their respective governments.

As it is with everything else in life in today's world, the extremists carry those rights too far and test the limits of the law to the point of absurdity.

The original "freedom of speech" declaration was never meant to be used to ridicule, harass, or shout obscenities at people attending funerals, marriages, or any other private (or public) functions.

I am sure our forefathers never envisioned that this simple need being addressed in their constitution, could be so twisted, convoluted, and corrupted as it is today.

We have become a society of cynicism at its worst.

And that corruption is being justified and permitted by a corrupted supreme court that would turn the original intent back onto the people in such a perverse manner.

Nor could they ever have imagined their society turning into one that excuses this atrocious behavior as an individual's right to do so.

An apathetic society that turns their backs on people being harassed and abused because extremist have been given the right to vent and direct their hatred and ignorance at anyone they so desire.

Decency has been abandoned by this government and the people themselves.

Religious freedom addressed in our constitution was meant to allow people the freedom to choose their religious beliefs (which in itself is another tragic story) without the fear of persecution as well.

And also to assure the public that religions do not have the right to influence government to make any laws that promote any religion or to mandate any religion's particular points of view.

And as with the extremists that ruined the freedom of speech by pushing limits beyond the point of common sense; religions have managed to corrupt government and society with their narrow minded points of view as well.

Those we elect to government offices bring their own brand of religious beliefs with them and allow laws to be made that gives religions the right to influence laws that effect everyone whether they are of their particular 'faith', or not.

This is counter to the premise of "freedom of religion". There is no freedom of religion if there are laws mandating morality imposed by religious belief systems.

This is not to be confused with making laws to address crimes against society, or crimes against humanity.

"Moral issues" based on religious beliefs are not, or should not be, in the realm of governmental interference or regulation.

We cannot have a discussion on freedoms and rights without examining the right to bear arms and how it is affecting society as a whole.

The original intent of this "right" was to allow people to own a gun for protection - not only against outside threats from other people with bad intentions and wild life, but also to be able to defend themselves against the government in the event that the government turned on the people without cause to try and establish the old ways of dictatorship, censurship, or undue restraints on personal freedoms.

Again, the extremist with hidden agendas are promulgating unfounded fears in the minds of the general public that somehow our government is trying to take all guns away from the people.

This fear has led to a catastrophic social condition that we see being played out all over the U.S.A. with mass shootings of innocent people for idiotic, or ideological reasons.

The NRA is in the business of making money from the sale of guns and ammunition and have the express desire of continuing to further their greed at the expense of innocent people in order to continue doing so.

We must preserve our rights as intended by our founding forefathers as written in our constitution.

We cannot afford to have extremists re-write our very important set of basic principles and laws of our nation to serve the special interests of the few

These "freedoms" and "equal rights" are all important issues that should not be regulated, limited, or diminished in any way by the government itself, religion (of any brand), or the NRA.

It is the extremes in our societies that pose the greatest problems, and create the greatest social unrest in our world today.

Although some people will argue that those who go too far with our constitutional freedoms are also victims themselves.

These extremists may be victims of the beliefs they had unwittingly inflicted on their minds as children, but that does not excuse those behaviors, nor should it be an excuse to allow them to continue.

Every law must have it's limitations to prevent extreme crackpots from pushing those laws to the point of destroying our society; as is evidenced by the ineffective laws about gun control, religious interference in lives of those who do not belong to their particular cults, and the spewers of hatred that harms people in a multitude of ways.

We set limits on our children to teach them what is right and what is wrong, then we allow extremist adults to do anything they want no matter whose lives they ruin, by giving them a "constitutional" right to do so.

We stand by idly while such entities as Wall Street, Corporate America, The Supreme Court, the NRA, Monsanto (and others like them) turn our laws into farcical mutations that only protect their personal interests, and promote their own brand of ideology, while casting reality, logic, public safety, our economy, and the preservation of our planet, to the winds of destruction.

And now to logically answer the question posed by "stuff4kids" that prompted this article:

"Which is more important, freedom of faith or freedom of speech?"

If one must choose either "freedom of speech" or "freedom of religion" the answer would have to be one that best serves the global society.

Therefore the "freedom of speech" would win as the most important, and the most relevant, to the world as a whole.

People must have the freedom to express themselves without persecution by those who oppose any different point of view in every aspect of life. We must never be limited to any single narrow visioned points of view.

This leads to a healthy debate and opens up the mind to creative and innovative thinking.

All things must be tempered (moderated) with logic and based in reality without temerity (foolhardiness).

Our "freedom of speech" must never be compromised to allow the extremists to corrupt the process to the point of allowing any physical or psychological bullies to force their extreme ideas on the rest of society.

The farther reaching implications and impact of the constitutional rights of fundamental freedoms was to never allow any majority to make laws that diminished the rights of any minority.

"Freedom of religion", on the other hand, can be easily removed from the world without devastating consequences on the global society, with the exception of the enterprises that profit from selling their superstitious beliefs to others for profit.

They actually contribute nothing of any economic value to any society.

They, in fact, are actually harmful to society when their "freedoms" allow and promote social unrest and genocide as our global history can certainly attest to.

by: Independent Mind June 22, 2014