Freedom from Government persecution on the basis of religion is built into the Constitution of these United States of America. What comes along with that freedom is a protective burden enforced by our Executive Branch and interpreted according to the Constitution by our Judicial Branch. Our nation has fallen short measured against both these charges.

When President Thomas Jefferson wrote of “a wall of eternal separation between Church & State” he meant to protect religion from Government; he did not mean to protect Government from religion. This is a distinction of extreme importance. Connecticut, at that time, was Calvinist Protestant, and the members of Danbury Baptist (as evidenced by their name) were not of that religion. They, thus, wrote President Jefferson worried that, “what religious privileges we enjoy[] we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights.” They further expressed their understanding that the Federal Government was separate from the Governments of the Several States.

President Jefferson responded by telling not only of the wall of separation, but also “that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions.” He went on explaining it would suffice to “restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.” This bit of dicta shows how important both the Separation of Federal and State powers were and how important protecting one’s personal religious worship from Government infringement was.

Natural Rights being not in conflict with Social Duties while legislating only actions implies to me that any time an official establishes a doctrine that cannot be carried out without the help of the opinions of a particular subset of society, that doctrine must be cast away. This is the basis of Conservative Religious Freedom.

So, when a Government Agent enforces a doctrine respecting something religious - or any thing anti-religious - that agent runs afoul of the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution.

As we have seen in recent years, when a Government Agent allows a statue of Jesus to be constructed but does not allow for a statue of Baphomet, that Agent violates the 1st Amendment. Likewise, when a Government Agent states one can fly the LGBTQ+ flag, the BLM flag, and the Ukrainian flag but not a flag bearing Jesus’ likeness, the Gadsen flag, or the Blue Lives flag this is an infringement. If one statue upholding an opinion or tradition is allowed, all statues must be allowed. If one flag is allowed, all flags must be allowed.

Government legislates actions, not opinions. Government legislates whether statues may be built and flags flown, not the content of those statues and flags.