The religion clauses of the First Amendment leave much to the imagination in terms of how they should be applied. Divided into two parts, the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause, they theoretically describe the whole of possible religious interaction in which the federal government may take part. In practice, they are often misinterpreted due to their confusing word choice. The Establishment Clause, for instance, is regularly read as prohibiting Congress from passing laws having to do with religion in general. This is a gross misreading of the Clause as it was intended; take as evidence the etymology of the word establishment. Its root, establish, comes from the Latin stabilire (to make stable). There is a clear difference between 1) a stable, enduring religious body and 2) assorted religious principles (which so often find protection under this clause). As early as 1731, there is evidence of the use of the phrase established Church as a common principle; although that connection has vanished today, even as late as 1923 the term’s meaning had only changed to “ruling people and institutions”.[1] Establish has always carried the connotation of a permanent institution; based on this logic, it is ridiculous to conclude that the Establishment Clause extends to preventing Congress from addressing religious activity in general. Only legitimate churches or similarly situated religious organizations, which are well established and permanent, are illegal targets of legislation. The Free Exercise Clause falls victim to another linguistic confusion; Congress is only prohibited from making laws which explicitly hinder the free exercise of those religious establishments. While the common understanding of this clause is, “Congress shall make no law prohibiting the right of the people to freely exercise their religions,” a more critical reading proves this is incorrect. The proper interpretation is, “Congress shall make no law prohibiting religious establishments from freely exercising.” Exercise, in this case, means “the condition of being in active operation."[2] In other words, the power of Congress to legislate with regards to religion is explicitly limited to everything that happens outside of establish religious institutions, but within that one restriction, Congress may pass any law it wishes! With this evidence, it is apparent that laws banning OR requiring forms of religious expression in public are completely constitutional: the clauses refer to churches, not their members. Religious expression that occurs outside of a building owned by permanent religious organization or an event sponsored by one of those organizations has no protection whatsoever. While the definition of “permanent religious organization” is harder to pin down, it can be understood that cults and newer religions, which have not proven themselves to be historically viable (established), do not enjoy the same protection as churches which have been around for hundreds of years. Similarly, the government may endorse any religious activity so long as it endorses no established religious institution. Therefore, under the terms of this argument, Christianity may be the subject of legislation, but the Presbyterian Church may not.
[1] Establish, Online Etymology Dictionary. 2001. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=establishment&searchmode=none
[2] Exercise, Online Etymology Dictionary. 2001. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=exercise&searchmode=none
Also, I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon of hating on Apple, so here's a poem I wrote:
My Trip to the Apple Store
The story I tell here,
Entirely true,
Could easily happen
to any of you.
When my PC failed me,
its hard drive ascreech,
I went to the store
of which hipper men preach.
With turtleneck black,
and eyes oh so cold,
The Apple man bought me
'fore I knew I'd been sold.
He spoke of its features,
He spoke of its price
Assured me that nothing
was nearly this nice.
The plastic, fantastic;
And firewire, too?
It also holds pictures
and clips from the zoo!
Sound editing, easy.
Photo touch-ups, a snap!
To use this computer
takes no thinking cap.
"But hold on," I asked him,
"What makes this so good?
These are all functions
That a PC could-"
"Blasphemy!" yelled he,
"It's got such ease of use!"
To prove it he made up
A widget-shaped goose.
His fingers were flying,
Slowed only by need
To press that strange button.
I missed right-click's speed.
"Now wait up," I begged,
"Can't I change or adjust?"
The interface seemed stagnant,
and I despise rust.
"Absurd!" was his charge,
"What change could you need?
It's a perfect design
for all people, indeed!"
He told me, "No viruses!
Macs will prevail!"
I asked about hard drives,
heard "Oh, those still fail."
"Now slow down," said I,
"This all seems quite fine.
But can't I go outside
your neatly drawn lines?"
He straightened and frowned,
Then gave me my hat.
Said, "Sorry, sir-
thought you were cooler than that."
The story I tell here,
Entirely true,
Could easily happen
to any of you.
When my PC failed me,
its hard drive ascreech,
I went to the store
of which hipper men preach.
With turtleneck black,
and eyes oh so cold,
The Apple man bought me
'fore I knew I'd been sold.
He spoke of its features,
He spoke of its price
Assured me that nothing
was nearly this nice.
The plastic, fantastic;
And firewire, too?
It also holds pictures
and clips from the zoo!
Sound editing, easy.
Photo touch-ups, a snap!
To use this computer
takes no thinking cap.
"But hold on," I asked him,
"What makes this so good?
These are all functions
That a PC could-"
"Blasphemy!" yelled he,
"It's got such ease of use!"
To prove it he made up
A widget-shaped goose.
His fingers were flying,
Slowed only by need
To press that strange button.
I missed right-click's speed.
"Now wait up," I begged,
"Can't I change or adjust?"
The interface seemed stagnant,
and I despise rust.
"Absurd!" was his charge,
"What change could you need?
It's a perfect design
for all people, indeed!"
He told me, "No viruses!
Macs will prevail!"
I asked about hard drives,
heard "Oh, those still fail."
"Now slow down," said I,
"This all seems quite fine.
But can't I go outside
your neatly drawn lines?"
He straightened and frowned,
Then gave me my hat.
Said, "Sorry, sir-
thought you were cooler than that."
Yes, it's biased.
