> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Charlie Bell > Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 12:25 AM > To: Killer Bs Discussion > Subject: Re: Gay Unions in NJ > > > On 27/10/2006, at 11:12 AM, jdiebremse wrote: > > > > > Rather constitutional rights are drafted in a democratic process, > > by the > > majority, to be a future, binding restriction on the majority. > > So the views of the Founding Fathers which prevailed were those of > the majority, especially those on separations of religious > establishment and government? No they weren't. Minority view at the > time...
Let's look at that. The Bill of Rights are amendments to the Constitution. Article V of the US Constitution gives two means of amending the Constitution. One of these, the constitutional convention, has yet to be used (we were close to it about 20 years ago). The other has been used numerous times. It requires approval of 2/3rds vote of each House of Congress and 3/4ths of the state assemblies. Unless there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I think we should see such a strong vote as indicating popular approval. One other point is that the first amendment, by itself, only applies to the actions of the Federal Government. It is: <quote> 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. <end quote> We see that the law specifically states that 'Congress shall make no law.' There is no prohibition of individual states making such laws. It takes the 14th amendment (section 1) for this to take place: <quote> Amendment XIV Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. <end quote> At the time, this was not thought to apply to the teaching of religion in schools. It took a Supreme Court Decision (1940s I think) to combine these two amendments to prohibit the establishment of religion in state sponsored schools. As an interesting aside, as I was typing this, Breyer and O'Conner (a Supreme Court justice and former justice) were discussing this very issue. :-) Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
