This is the first part of my explanation of the religious freedom principle that was printed in the Times-Union on March 25. Here it is again with some necessary minor modifications from the version listed in the March 25 letter to the editor.
Freedom of religion is the inalienable right of each person, whether alone or with others, to peacefully, openly and freely profess belief in the supernatural and engage in the practice of a religion of one's own choosing or for one to peacefully, openly and freely profess no belief in the supernatural and refuse to practice any religion at all and for each person to be free from having acts of persecution, forced conversion, intrusion into the internal affairs of one's congregation, denomination and faith and the establishment of a universal state, church/state religion or militant state atheism inflicted upon them by any part or whole of any local, state, national, continental or world government.
I will now go into a brief explanation of the above principle.
1. The phrase "inalienable right" means a natural freedom that would be illegal, immoral and impractical for the rulers or voters of a country to try to take away from you.
2. "Each person whether alone or with others" are free to choose whether to be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, pagan, atheist, etc. Which also means it is not the responsibility of the President, Congress, the Supreme Court, bureaucratic agencies, special interest lobby groups, state legislatures, city and town councils, your next door neighbor in a voting booth, foreign governments, the United Nations, Islamic jihadists, megachurch pastors and militant atheists to decide for you.
3. The peaceful profession and practice of religion does not include the duty to wage a holy war against the infidels and heretics or engage in such acts as assault, theft, fraud, kidnapping, vandalism, arson, trespassing, obstructing traffic, disturbing the peace, etc.
4. The open profession and practice of religion means one does not have to conceal their activities from bureaucrats, police and informants out of fear of being punished.
5. To freely profess belief in and practice a religion means to be free from undue restrictions on one's activities so long as they are peaceful and do not infringe upon others' rights to do the same or engage in other personal freedoms.
The remainder of my explanation will follow at a later date.
