It's Freedom of Religion, Not Freedom FROM Religion

I'll continue my theme of government involvement in our lives. My two previous rants were about about Freedom of the press and government charity. If you read those you can guess my views on the subject; "Freedom of" is not "freedom from" religion.

“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 redress of grievances.” U.S. Const.,
Amend. I."

Today the Supremes will hear two arguments about religion (specifically the Ten Commandments) in public places.

It's amazing to me, after reading the briefs, it's apparent that the supremes really have to make a decision. Case law supports both sides of the arguments. That's where I think we went wrong though. There should not be case law supporting the the petitioner in the first argument (Van Orden v. Perry[Governor of Texas]) and the respondent in the second (McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky).

The Constitution is very clear; the federal government will not force a religion or prevent a citizen from choosing their own religion. Some of the other arguments justifying why the commandments should remain in place seem spurious to me. They claim that the monuments are part of history, or part of a museum setting., or it's less religious than other religious symbology that the Supreme Court has already allowed.

The only argument that needs to be made is that the commandments are not endorsing any specific religion or religion at all. Believe, don't believe, change your beliefs, whatever. If you think that the government is cramming faith down your throat, petition them to put up a monument to your beliefs. Petition the government to take it down. Call all your friends, family, neighbors, mosque-mates, church-buddies, temple pals, and vote. Then you can make the rules. Have fun, good luck.

On a personal note, I think the ten commandments are good rules to live by. Ignore the first 2 or three (depending on your interpretation) if you don't believe in Yahweh or any other deity. And I don't see the harm. They don't take anything away from your faith or lack of faith.

Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion