Guaranteeing our first five freedoms, the first amendment is worth taking some time with when reviewing. For this reason I will create five threads, one for each of the freedoms guaranteed in this amendment.
Before we get started though, there is one very important point I think needs to be made. Nowhere in the Constitution will you find a right to not be offended. In fact, if you take even a cursory look at the first amendment you will see that the rights to freedom of religion, speech and press pretty much are freedoms to offend people.
If all speech was inoffensive then why would we need our right to speak freely guaranteed by the federal government? We wouldn’t! If all religious expression was inoffensive then why the need to guarantee our ability to exercise them? If news articles didn’t offend someone at some time there would be no need to guarantee their right to be printed.
So the next time you hear someone tell you something is unconstitutional because they are offended by it, tell them you are offended by their unconstitutional, (and in my personal opinion narcissistic), desire to have everything their way. I may not like what they say, but the Constitution rightly guarantees their right to say it just as it guarantees the rights of others to say what they wish as well.
The one limitation to our freedoms listed in the first amendment is we cannot use them to infringe on the rights of others. I have freedom of speech, but that does not give me the right to lie in a court of law, that’s called perjury. The problem is how we deal with this limitation on our freedom. The classic case is yelling fire in a crowded theatre. Today, our reaction to the improper use of our freedoms is to limit them for everyone. However, the proper response to someone yelling fire in a crowded theatre is not to limit free speech but to charge that person with a crime.
So as we study our freedoms let us remember the responsibility we have not to misuse them and the proper corrective when they are abused.{jcomments on}