First Amendment Rights

Background:

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees

freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and freedom of

assembly. These are the bedrock rights that guarantee the preservation of a

pluralistic society in which those who espouse diverse and even conflicting

views and beliefs may pursue them without fear of suppression by action of the

majority or governmental interference. It is not an overstatement to assert

that it is the First Amendment that made the United States the refuge of

choice for Jews and others throughout the world when faced with persecution

and oppression in countries without equivalent guarantees. As members of a

religious minority whose history is so dominated by oppression, we are

especially sensitive to any effort to weaken the safeguards of pluralism and

minority expression. We, as rabbis, have been in the forefront of those

defending the right to even objectionable and offensive speech and expression,

knowing that if the rights of all are not safe, then the rights of none are

safe. We cherish these protections, not only because they are the hallmark of

true freedom, but because we also know that the vibrant political discussion

they foster strengthens our nation.

Because the First Amendment embodies the core values of religious and

political freedom, any proposal to amend it or restrict its protections by

constitutional amendment or statute must arouse our concern. On this basis we

have long opposed efforts at censorship or restriction of the rights of

speech, publication, association, or petition of grievances to the government

as well as weakening of the wall separating church and state. Currently,

efforts to allow government-sponsored prayer and to ban desecration of the

United States flag, through constitutional amendments or legislation, are

being advanced and may soon come before the Congress and the states for

adoption and ratification.

Like many who support a prayer amendment, we decry the absence of prayer and

the absence of religious values in so many individual lives. But we do oppose

any government role in the sponsorship of prayer, and vigorously oppose

weakening the guarantee of religious freedom in the First Amendment. Like

many of those who support a flag amendment, we take pride in the American flag

as a symbol of democratic values and freedom that brought us and so many other

immigrants to these shores. But we oppose protecting the symbol at the

expense of weakening the rights it represents. Our nation faces no overriding

threat to our freedom today that would justify support for these or any other

initiatives to weaken the protections of the First Amendment.

THEREFORE, the Central Conference of American Rabbis resolves to oppose all

attempts to amend the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States

or to erode by legislation the protections it provides.