By Staff
We are seeing the product of years of not teaching our First Amendment to the Constitution at a young age.
People are applying their own values rather than educated knowledge about the Constitution.
For example, a recent poll found that most Americans believe the nation's founding fathers wrote Christianity into the Constitution.
People are less likely to say freedom to worship covers religious groups they regard as extreme.
The survey measuring attitudes toward freedom of religion, speech and the press found that 55 percent believe erroneously that the Constitution established a Christian nation.
In the annual survey by the First Amendment Center, three out of four people who identify themselves as evangelical or Republican believe that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation. About half of Democrats and independents do.
Most respondents – 58 percent – say public school teachers should be allowed to lead prayers. That is an increase from 2005, when 52 percent supported prayer in public schools.
More people – 43 percent – say public schools should be allowed to put on Nativity re-enactments with Christian music than in 2005, when 36 percent did.
Half say teachers should be allowed to use the Bible as a factual text in history class. That's down from 56 percent in 2000.
The survey of 1,003 adults was conducted Aug. 16-26. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center, told USA Today the findings are especially troubling at a time when the top diplomat in Iraq recently gave Congress a report on progress toward achieving democracy there.
"Americans are dying to create a secular democracy in Iraq, and simultaneously a growing number of people want to see a Christian state" here, Haynes noted the irony.
The "scariest" number, in Haynes' opinion, is that only 56 percent agree that freedom of religion applies to all groups "regardless of how extreme their beliefs are."
That's way down from 72 percent in 2000.
Many Americans consider Islam extreme since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – much the way Roman Catholics were regarded in the 19th century.
Others consider Mormons on the fringe.
The Constitution clearly established a secular nation where people of all faiths – or no faith – are protected to practice their beliefs without government interference.