by Arthur Gibson

Created on: August 04, 2008

For those of us who don't remember, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution reads as follows:

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.

Freedom of Speech is guaranteed to all Americans regardless of their belief in or disbelief in the Christian religion. We, as a people, need to remember that the freedoms we have in this country came in large part because of the earliest colonists to inhabit our shores. The vast majority of these people came to the New World in order to escape religious persecution and the inability to speak their minds freely.

Unlike most other nations on Earth, the United States does not have a State sponsored religion, nor are people arbitraily thrown in jail for speaking out against the government. In fact, our Constitution, which was written over 200 years ago, precludes those type of laws being passed. If we were to ban Freedom of Speech for Christian broadcasters, then we open up the floodgates for a whole series of oppressive laws to be enacted. How many millions of people watch the "Jerry Springer Show", listen to "Gangster Rap", play video games where you get points for running over innocent people in the street or any number of other activities which are currently legal. Take away Freedom of Speech for any group of broadcasters and you open the doors for any of the above activities and many others to suddenly became illegal.

Our Founding Fathers fought and won the Revoluntionary War to keep oppressive laws from being forced on us by any government. When setting up our current form of government and writing the Constitution; they thought it important enough to list certain basic rights. Among those are the ones mentioned in the first Amendment. They wanted to insure every individual the right to worship or not worship as they chose. I daresay you won't find that right guaranteed in any Muslim Nation, or in any of the remaining Communists Nations.

Do some Christian broadcasters take advantage of this freedom? I'm sure they do; but no more so than some of the secular broadcasters. In all probability, you can find someone who takes offense at anything spoken on radio and television and/or anything published in any magazine or newspaper. But, as long as they are not encouraging people to riot, participate in armed revolt against the government, perform seditious or treasonous acts, or participate in any other criminal activity, then they have the right to say what they please. If we, the public, take offense at anything that is said or written, we have the right to change stations or quit reading that publication. And if it is a politican saying or writing things that are offense to us, we always have the right to vote against them in the next election.

"Freedom of Speech" is a precious and valuable commodity. Once that is taken away from any group of US citizens, we all are in danger of losing that gift granted us in the Constitution. And any freedom, once lost, is doubly hard to get back, if its possible at all. Countless men and women have given their lives over the past 200 plus years to guarantee that we continue to enjoy the freedoms we have as citizens. Let's not dicuss limiting "Freedom of Speech" for any group when we have the option of switching the dial, or refusing to read what someone has said or written.

Learn more about this author, Arthur Gibson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.