The View From 1776

Many of the state constitutions, between the time of the Articles of Confederation and our 1787 Constitution, contained clauses similar to Delaware’s, granting freedom of worship “...unless under colour of religion, any man disturb the peace, the happiness, or safety of society.”

Were such language in the First Amendment, vast numbers of vexatious problems could have been avoided.  For instance, the practice of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the 1940s of employing sound trucks to blare out messages to Catholics on their way to Easter Sunday mass, declaring that the Roman Catholic Church is the"great whore of Babylon” and that Catholics are all damned to hell.  The result in some cases was civil disturbance requiring police to prevent mayhem.  It was such cases that resulted in the Supreme Court’s present-day doctrines of “separation of church and state,” under the ACLU construction of free speech as inclusive of any sort of conduct, no matter how offensive to the majority of people.

Provisions against disturbing the peace, happiness, or safety of society would also have enabled authorities in the early decades of the 20th century to clamp down on provocateurs advocating the atheistic, materialistic, and anti-Constitutional religion of socialism, as well as dealing today with Islamic Imams who preach hatred and death to non-Muslim American citizens.

With regard to my categorization of socialism as a materialistic religion, see Socialism: Our Unconstitutionally Established National Religion.

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