Editor, Times-Union: The following is a continued explanation of my proposed constitutional amendment concerning freedom of religion and the maintenance of the independence of the institutions of church and state. Previous letters have been printed in the Times-Union over the course of the past few months. Before I continue with my explanation, I would like to mention three observations from “A World Survey of Religion and the State” by Jonathon Fox, a book that I have mentioned in previous letters. The author of this book cites numerous examples of other countries constitutions and laws and how they pledge to uphold values that are similar to the American 1st Amendment but then either have built in loopholes or no actual enforcement or those pledges. Two examples are from countries of the former Soviet Bloc and the nations of the Middle East and North Africa respectively. The first example “all of these restrictions on religion and the other forms of GIR (Government Involvement in Religion) occur despite clauses in most of these countries’ constitutions declaring SRAS (Separation of Religion & State), religious freedom, and equality of all religions before the law.” (Fox 180). The second example “The majority of the countries of MENA (Middle East North Africa) promise religious freedom but state that this freedom is subordinate to Islam, local customs, public order, or some similar qualification, which effectively allows significant restrictions on religious freedom.” (Fox 248). The author also makes the following key point “constitutional projections for religion are only relevant to the extent that a country’s government has the political will to enforce them and a court system with the power and inclination to do the same.” (Fox 180). Proposed Constitutional Amendment-Concerning Freedom of Religion and Separation of Church & State Continued Neither Congress, the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, the president and his or her cabinet, the federal bureaucracies; nor the executive, legislative, judicial, or bureaucratic branches of government of the various states, counties, localities, and territories of the Union; nor majorities of participating American voters in elections of referendums; nor a foreign faction, foreign power, foreign alliance, and international or transnational authority shall prohibit or infringe upon during peacetime or war. The inalienable right of the citizens and inhabitants of the United States and it’s territories or of foreigners residing here or abroad to respectfully engage in an ethical manner whether alone or with others the peaceful, open, free, and voluntarily aided expression and exercise of religion or irreligion according to the dictates of individual conscience without fear of reprisal, interference, coerced conformity for all to a collective faith, a precarious coexistence with a majority faith, the obliteration of one’s faith from existence and the annals of history, or a forced exodus into a shroud of secrecy or from one’s native or adopted homeland. The reminder of my amendment and explanation will follow shortly. Alexander Houze Leesburg
