Religious Liberty in the United States by William Bentely Ball: 3. Freedom of Conscience

Recorded in 1997.  In Religious Liberty in the United States, Mr. Ball walks the student through the evolving relationship between church and state in the U.S.  The Founders clearly envisioned a role for the Christian religion in the founding of the country: to provide the moral code to which all Americans would be expected to adhere.  However, with concern that the assumption of Christianity by government institutions was a violation of the First Amendment ("Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion…"), courts began to rule that there could be no traces of religion in government institutions, especially public schools.  

Though recorded before the current political debates, Religious Liberty in the United States provides a solid foundation in the history and issues that have formed today's crisis.  He predicts religious persecution, and urges a return to the correct understanding of the role of religion in society. The extreme decisions that have purged public life of religion have trespassed upon the religious liberty of all. If no one is allowed to express his religious views for fear of causing offense, secularism has become the enforced national religion.  Cleansing the state of religious principles has effectively erased its moral code -- any moral principles that do remain in the state are subjective, and severely threatened.  Utility is now the measuring stick by which actions are judged, and our basic rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness will always be arbitrary unless their source, the Creator, can once again be acknowledged by government.

catholicthinkers.org