Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

First Amendment & the Bible

The First Amendment informs that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech." Until 1963, this passage was interpreted as allowing of prayer in public school as well as allowing students to engage in religious activity such as having Bible clubs, celebrate Christmas on school property using religious symbols, and so forth (Barron & Dienes, 2000). However, others have argued that this interpretation was far from what the founding fathers intended and for the past 350 years, government officials and educators have been misinterpreting the First Amendment (Levy, 1989).

Which of these interpretations is correct? One avenue that might be sought in determining an answer to this question is to examine the influence of the Bible in the lives and thoughts of the author of the first amendment and the writers of the American Constitution. The purpose of this paper is to provide such an examination.

First Amendment, The Founding Fathers, and the Bible

The author of the First Amendment was Fisher Aimes, the son of a Col. Henry Aimes, a revolutionary soldier of Hanover County, Virginia. In 1801, Aimes wrote an article called "School Books" in Pladium Magazine. He stated:

We have trouble in the classrooms, we are putting in new text books. Nothing wrong with new books but we are spending more time on them than the Bible; it is drifting to the back of the classroom. We cannot tolerate this in American education. The Bible's morals are pure, its examples are captivating and noble.

Clearly, the author of the First Amendment's notion of the place of the Bible in American public education is in conflict with many current day judicial interpretations of the need to allow freedom of religious speech and yet maintain "the separation of church and state," that is said to be implied in the notion of congress being prohibited from the establ...

Page 1 of 4 Next >

More on First Amendment & the Bible...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
First Amendment & the Bible. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:02, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1696449.html