Right of Conscience
by
Stephen L. Corrigan
All copyrights reserved

Black's Law Dictionary (4th edition) defines the human conscience as a " moral sense; the faculty of judging the moral qualities of actions, or of discriminating between right and wrong; particular applied to one's perception and judgment of the moral qualities of his own conduct, but in a wider sense, denoting a similar application of the standards of morality to the acts of others."

Our founders who were Protestants interpreted Right of conscience, as the God given right of all men to follow the laws and commands of Jesus Christ above all other authorities as they pursued happiness. This concept was the result of a statement by a German Catholic priest named Martin Luther. 

Luther stated:

"I say, then, neither pope, nor bishop, nor any man whatever has the right of making one syllable binding on a Christian man, unless it be done with his own consent. Whatever is done otherwise is done in the spirit of tyranny...I cry aloud on behalf of liberty and conscience, and I proclaim with confidence that no kind of law can with any justice be imposed on Christians, except so far as they themselves will; for we are free from all."

 

SOME VERY IMPORTANT QUOTES CONCERNING THE CONTEXT OF LIBERTY AND "RIGHT OF CONSCIENCE" UNDER AMERICA'S REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT.
1. "No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the power of its public functionaries..." (Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Methodist Episcopal Church at New London, Connecticut, Feb. 4, 1809).

2. "The error seems not sufficiently eradicated that the operations of the mind as well as the acts of the body are subject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have no authority over such natural rights, only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitmate powers of government extend to such acts as are injurious to others." (Thomas Jefferson quoted from "Jefferson Himself" edited by Bernard Mayo, p.81, University Press of Virginia).

The following letter is the source of "the establishment clause" created by The Supreme Court concerning "the Wall of Separation between church and State"

To Messrs. Nehemiah Dodge and Others, a Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association, in the State of Connecticut

Gentleman,

The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association, give me the highest satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof thus building a wall of separation between church and State.  Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect and esteem.

At the time of the writing of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, the first dictionary had not yet been written. The Founders used the King James Version of the Holy Bible and Tucker's Commentary on Blackstone's  Commentary on Law. To understand how the Founders used the word "respect" when writing the 1st amendment, I have listed the following scriptures from both the Old and New Testament.

Leviticus 19:15

15 "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour."

Acts 10:34

34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:"



The following illustrates how the Supreme Court has construed the 1st amendment to remove the restriction placed on Congress that protected our "rights of conscience".


1st Amendment:


"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.".

Maybe if the founders had said "Thou shalt not make any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;.."  it would have made it clearer for The Supreme Court to understand. The verb in that sentence is respecting and not establishing. As Bill Clinton once said: "You have to know what the meaning of is is". When the Supreme Court construed the sentence to mean establishing and not respecting, they in effect lifted the restriction voiding the whole intent of the 1st amendment. They thus established a new restriction or law that Congress has no intention of breaking openly.

With the Supreme Court taking away all restrictions on Congress concerning our "right of conscience", the new law  now allows Congress to make any law they wish. They now have the power to prevent or limit all citizens from practicing the standards they have chosen for defining what is right and wrong conduct for their life and in a greater sense judging the conduct of those around them.  Congress can now force all religions to respect and support with their conduct and taxes the standards of any religious or secular group they so wish. Those standards, as we have seen in recent years, now conflict with most of the moral standards established by God concerning our local communities.  The new law now allows all types of social engineering by Congress to eliminate any references or signs of God in our communities.


The ninth amendment, however, was written to prevent any branch of government from construing such interpretation concerning any right in the Bills of Rights. The ninth amendment states: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people".  The amendment limits the Supreme from making that conclusion or interpretation." Once again The Supreme Court has said that they are at a loss as to the meaning of the original intent concerning the amendment. How convenient ?


 It is time that we as American citizens stand together and say that we now know there is no "establishment clause" in the 1st amendment. It is time that we stand together and say that we as American citizens will no longer support any law that forces us to support any group that conflicts with our "right of conscience". It is time that we the People of a Christian nation say no to the social engineering by Congress establishing standards for what is right and wrong conduct in our local communities that is against the moral standards established by God.

We the People are accountable to God not Congress for what is acceptable conduct in our communities. It is our responsibility to set the standards for our communities and not the government.