U.S. ConstitutionThere has never been a time when the freedoms embodied in the First Amendment did not need to be defended from those who would circumvent those freedoms.
We in Tennessee have been in the middle of this struggle for many years, from deciding which way to go when our country was fragmenting in 1861 to being the deciding state to ratify the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.
But the First Amendment in particular, ratified in 1791 along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, is the foundation upon which all other rights are based.
Look at what this one Amendment gives us:
• We are free to worship in the manner we choose, or – and this is often forgotten – to choose not to worship at all.