The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees five related freedoms, and all five are under attack today by the Republican Party.
That is not a partisan statement; it is a fact.
The modern-day GOP, overtaken by Donald Trump and his MAGA mob, believes in freedom for me but not for thee.
In the aftermath of the tragic shooting of far-right influencer Charlie Kirk, we have seen the last of the five freedoms of the First Amendment face a full-frontal assault from conservatives. Clearly, in their view, only they are entitled to freedom of speech. Anyone who dares to challenge their rigid opinions is not worthy of protected speech.
Mark Wingfield
Look at the mob mentality that is getting teachers and other public servants fired for their social media posts merely pointing out the truth that Kirk was a racist, bigot and homophobe. Even quoting his own words gets people fired.
Look at what happened to Washington Post opinion writer Karen Attiah.
Look at what happened to Jimmy Kimmel.
Look at what’s happening to schoolteachers. BNG learned today that so far 280 Texas teachers have been reported to the Texas Education Agency for their social media posts on Kirk and face termination. The Amarillo teacher I referenced in a piece earlier this week — one of scores of schoolteachers nationwide being investigated, suspended and fired for posting comments about Kirk on social media — was fired Tuesday, leaving his family of four without income.
Because Kirk has been rapidly made a saint by the far right, anyone who dares to challenge his sainted status faces blowback. Yet the case for his sainthood is about as convincing as the Etsy faux gilding Trump has installed all over the Oval Office.
“The case for his sainthood is about as convincing as the Etsy faux gilding Trump has installed all over the Oval Office.”
Those of us not affected with the Conservative Control Freak Virus have wondered why those on the right are so worked up over people simply quoting Kirk’s own words to prove he was a political provocateur. This seems like an extreme overreaction.
Until you step back and connect the dots to the larger picture of the First Amendment.
As a refresher, here’s what the First Amendment says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
BNG has reported early and often on conservative evangelicals’ attempts to elevate one clause of the First Amendment’s protections for religious freedom above the other. The current push — as seen in Supreme Court cases and Donald Trump’s unbalanced Religious Liberty Commission — is to make the Free Exercise Clause ruler over the Establishment Clause. In plain English, they want to demand freedom to exercise their religious beliefs even if doing so harms others or infringes on the religious freedom of others.
Take the Ten Commandments laws as an example. This is an easy one. Posting the commandments in every public-school classroom forces a certain variety of Judaism and Christianity on all students — whether they are Muslim, Hindu, atheists or something else. It establishes Judaism and Christianity as superior religions.
“That’s clearly a violation of the First Amendment, but they don’t care.”
That’s clearly a violation of the First Amendment, but they don’t care. They have convinced themselves America was founded as a “Christian nation” and the Ten Commandments were essential to writing the Constitution. They were not.
The Supreme Court recently went through torturous linguistic gymnastics to justify a part-time assistant football coach holding “voluntary” prayer vigils on the 50-yard line after high school football games. In order to escape the clear language of the First Amendment, the court bought the lies of the coach’s evangelical lawyers who said there was no coercion involved in the prayer gatherings.
Now it’s clear the agenda is not just to redefine religious liberty but to reinterpret the entirety of the First Amendment.
Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to peaceably assemble and freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances all are under attack by the Trump administration and its allies. We’ve seen this in bits and pieces but now the full puzzle is coming together.
The insane overreaction to those who dare to speak truth about Charlie Kirk and not buy the conservative movement to make him a Christian saint and martyr shows this agenda for what it is.
Remember, Trump from the beginning has sought to undermine the legitimacy of a free press. He’s now said it loud enough and frequently enough that too many people have bought the lie.
Remember, the MAGA mob wants to portray January 6 as a tourist visit to the Capitol but No Kings protests as out-of-control thuggery.
“All this ties back to one common theme: Disdain for the First Amendment.”
Remember, the Trump administration is working overtime to cut off pathways for any critics to challenge its illegal executive actions.
All this ties back to one common theme: Disdain for the First Amendment. And reaction to the murder of Charlie Kirk — heinous as it was — has brought the whole picture into clear focus.
Evangelicals who have sold their souls to Trump for a mess of political pottage demand all the guarantees of freedom for themselves but want to afford no freedom to their opponents and critics. This is the most selfish and dangerous reinterpretation of the First Amendment possible. It is liberty for me but not for thee.
And it sounds just like what they would have learned from their greatest hero, Donald Trump himself.
In my circles of influence, people are more despondent than ever. “Where do we go from here?” is a common question. “How can we possibly find our way out of this?”
The answer is to demand conservatives abandon their hypocrisy and stand up for what they say they believe in — the rule of law. The First Amendment is settled law. And it is the law for all people of all viewpoints. We must lift it high and hold all parties accountable to it, both me and thee.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global and is the author of five books, including Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves and Why Churches Need to Talk About Sexuality.