And the last day, with the first, and some say most important, amendment.

Amendment I

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

What it means:  Congress shall make no laws establishing favoritism of one religion over the other.  Nor shall congress pass a law that prevents someone from speaking their opinion, nor shall they pass a law preventing the news media from doing the same thing.  People may assemble provided they do so peacefully.  Finally, people may bring the government up on charges should they feel they have been wronged.

Today:  If you have been paying attention, you caught it.  The point I keep trying to make.  This is a federal document, concerning the federal government, and it was written this way to make sure that should a citizen require their voice to be heard, no matter the cause, the government would not be able to prevent them from doing so.  Local governments have copied it into their own constitutions so it carries through…but not everywhere.  Federal, local, state…not private.

The catches are these.  For freedom of religion, while the federal government has a hands off approach, local governments and yes, even the IRS, can determine what is a religion and what isn’t.  Don’t fit the rules, better be careful.  Also, some religions run afoul in their religious practices of other laws…human sacrifice is still depriving someone of life even if it is voluntary.  Don’t get your kids medical attention?  Child abuse.  Of course, the part about congress not passing laws doesn’t mean we can’t have leaders that base their policies on religion.  The Reagans allegedly followed astrology, while the Bush administration has entire policies based on their own personal faith.  If I hear about one more school board trying to get intelligent design taught as actual science instead of evolution…

You’ll also note the lack of the term “separation of church and state”.  That came later, thanks to Jefferson and Madison, but as far as I can locate was never specifically put into law as such.  Basically, Congress will not permit the taxing, funding, or even acknowledgement of a religion AS A WHOLE.  Individual members may do so at leisure, but not in a governmental sense.

As for freedom of speech, have at it.  Just remember, while the governments may not dictate the content of the speech, they MAY dictate the time and location of speeches.  Our country tends to be rather lenient in this regard.  Same with the right to assemble peacefully…there is a good chance it will be permitted, but if there is a chance for a mob or violence, such as asking to march down a major thoroughfare during rush hour (or my personal favorite, the KKK marching down Harlem!) forget it.

Freedom of press?  Reporters make their own news nowadays, but enough money and/or dirty tricks, and they will report what you want them to report.  Just ask anyone that has seen a political scandal where the facts change daily, or a campaign advertisement.

Keep in mind the one thing that people keep forgetting, though, and this is what they really SHOULD remember.  We are not the federal government.  We are private citizens.  As such, we do not have to listen to each other.  Indeed, it is our freedom of speech that allows us to shout someone down, expose flaws in the speech, and so on.  Additionally, unless the person is on public property or has permission from the landowner, they may be brought up on charges completely unrelated to freedom of speech.  Like trespassing.  Vocally inciting a riot, slander, profanity, obscenity…also out, but NOT because of the government, but local laws.  Be careful though…not done right, and it gets tossed out of court.

So yes, as a private citizen, I have the right to not listen to a person blather, and am able to take peaceable steps to get them to STFU.

And for the record, just because, I’ve been telling people I’m opposed to both merry christmas and happy holidays because it is insensitive to miserable bastards.