Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis says the First Amendment is only for the protection of Christian consciences.
https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2026/05/first-amendment-religious-liberty-is.htmlThere's a clear indication in the language of the first amendment that crushes Ellis' argument that the founding fathers intended to protect only the religious liberty of Christians. For one thing, Christianity is not mentioned, referenced, or even alluded to in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution in its vague references to divine providence. "Religion" was then, as it is now, an all inclusive term indicating an awareness of the existence of other faiths beyond Christianity, Judaeo-Christianity or Judaism.
There is, in fact, no specific reference to Christianity in either the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution. That's not surprising, given that there were few Christians among the founding fathers, and none who understood Christianity in the context of conservative Evangelicalism's 19th century fundamentalist and pre-millennial dispensational perspective that is Ellis' understanding.
The freedom of conscience protected by the first amendment is all inclusive. Conscience includes religious practice, or the absence of any religious practice. It also includes all other ideologies and thoughts, including those that are unique to any individual. In the absence of any kind of interpretation written by any of the founders that would support Ellis' view, there is the fact that the courts have exercised the constitutional powers they have been given to interpret the Constitution as demanding and protecting religious pluralism.
So why isn't Ellis treating Muslims like they are her neighbor? But then, those kind of people always have an answer as to why they don't have to be true to the core principles of their alleged faith.
Moostache
(11,268 posts)Fuck her and everyone that abides Trump in any manner.
Seriously, if you can even stomach that son of a bitch fuckwad, I hope evil things happen to you in a conga line.
Beakybird
(3,402 posts)Am I missing something?
lees1975
(7,177 posts)This is her quote, so you won't have to do all that clicking;
ThoughtCriminal
(14,752 posts)eppur_se_muova
(42,416 posts)were issues still worth killing your neighbors over. And that was after religious disputes had toned down in Europe in general, and England in particular.
The idea that the Constitution represents a consensus Christian view is nonsense; there was (and is) no consensus. Keeping religion out of government was probably the only way the Colonies could ever have formed a unified gov't -- and remember, it took two tries to achieve success.
George III's father (George II, natch) had fought off a Catholic pretender to the throne only a few decades previously. Protestant supporters said they "would rather see the fez of the Turk on the throne" than to return to a Catholic monarchy. So no, there was no hand-holding and singing among a bunch of happily unified Christians. Religious addicts who want to see religion take over gov't always believe, on the basis of absolutely nothing, that it will be their version of Christianity which controls the levers of power, and not some version supported by anyone outside of their narrow, immediate community -- even when their denomination is a minor one with a very short history, greatly outnumbered by everyone else -- and with nothing like the numbers, wealth, and political experience (including insider deals and other dirty fighting) of the Roman Catholic Church. Keep pushing for a religious takeover, folks, and you'll find yourselves referring to the POTUS as "his Holiness". We've had enough of that already.