The Government Should Be Banned Persuasive Speech

Speech, Religion, Press, Assembly, Petition. These are the five great freedoms that the First Amendment provided on December 15, 1791, the day it was ratified. The Establishment Clause is a section of the First Amendment that fewer people remember, yet it is just as important. This clause provides the promise of the separation of church and state, and has been interpreted to mean quote “that Congress and other government bodies are prohibited from designating a national religion, legislating the practice of religious activity or endorsing any particular religious expression” end quote. While many insist that government entanglement in religion will restrict the freedoms of those who differ in beliefs, others believe that it is unrealistic for

However, in reality, this is not what the separation of church and state truly means. Amy Witherbee, another author for EBSCO, and Heather Newton, attorney and editor, make a valid point in Counterpoint: The Government Should Allow all Forms of Religion in the U.S. and Should Not Impede Them where they further detail that quote “it would be impossible for all individuals involved in the government to completely remove all traces of their moral and ethical code from their daily activities” end quote. Witherbee and Newton utilize the phrases quote “all individuals” end quote and quote “completely remove all traces” end quote, and if these extreme phrases were true, it would obviously bring the separation of church and state to an unhealthy extreme. This would be extremely unreasonable and could likely be considered censorship or oppression. However, this is absolutely not what the first amendment asks for. As Ellen Bailey, a writer for EBSCO, points out, the first amendment merely asks for government bodies as a whole to refrain from associating with a single religion. Bailey refers back to the first amendment in Separation of Church and State: An Overview and states that (---)“The Establishment Clause has been interpreted to mean that Congress and other government bodies are prohibited from designating a national religion, legislating the practice of religious activity or endorsing any particular religious expression” end quote(Logos). It’s important that Bailey uses the phrase quote “Congress and other government bodies” end quote; this means that government institutions as a whole must avoid advocating any one religion. It says nothing about the individuals of the government; they are free to express their beliefs, or else it could be considered religious censorship, which would violate the freedom of religion. In