Trump's Speech on the history of Religious Freedom in the U.S.

[Shiloh Raven]

According to Trump, the United States of America has a long-standing commitment to freedom of conscience and freedom to profess one's own faith. Trump also stated that the right to religious freedom is innate to the dignity of every human person and is foundational to the pursuit of truth.

However, Trump's statement that 'America has a long-standing commitment to freedom of conscience and freedom to express one's faith' is blatantly misleading, as well as historically inaccurate. The two specific statements I cited above are historically inaccurate because Native Americans have only had religious freedom for the last 40 years since the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed in 1978. In my personal opinion, his speech about the history of religious freedom in America is skewed and whitewashed. I don't expect everyone who reads my opinion to agree with me.

The purpose of my thread is to discuss the historical accuracy of his statements regarding the history of religious freedom in the United States. It is not to attack him because he is the president or a soapbox platform to deflect to liberal politicians or to attack liberals in general. I often hear from the right wing of politics about "Fake News" whenever it concerns Trump being accurately covered in the media. However, the article in question is from a Catholic news source, so I'm hoping that there won't be any accusations of fake news regarding the article or its overall content covering Trump's speech.

There are other statements that he made in his speech that are clearly refutable, but the statements he made in his speech that I have the most problem with are the two I quoted below.

“On Religious Freedom Day, we celebrate our nation’s long-standing commitment to freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess one’s own faith,”

“The right to religious freedom is innate to the dignity of every human person and is foundational to the pursuit of truth."

Reference Source: President Trump: Religious Liberty Is Innate to Every Human Person

* The article in question was originially posted in a congregational forum here:

President Trump: Religious liberty is innate in every human person

 

[Dynadin]

What Trump said is right. . . as long as it's the 'right' religion. Those 'other' religions (usually from scary brown people) are of course not valid and are not afforded the same type of freedom.

 

[childeye 2]

The point of freedom of religion is so that the state doesn't end up speaking as God. As a pursuit for truth it must end in a contradiction because it infers that the truth is subjective even because there are many religions.

 

[Shiloh Raven]

What Trump said is right. . . as long as it's the 'right' religion. Those 'other' religions (usually from scary brown people) are of course not valid and are not afforded the same type of freedom.

The point of freedom of religion is so that the state doesn't end up speaking as God. As a pursuit for truth it must end in a contradiction because it infers that the truth is subjective even because there are many religions.

Thank you for your replies.

 

[cow451]

It goes without saying that Mr. Trump did not nor could not have written the statement. He cannot write or think in any depth required for such a statement regardless of the merits it might have.

So, is it actually his statement at all? Technically yes. In reality, no.

 

[grasping the after wind]

According to Trump, the United States of America has a long-standing commitment to freedom of conscience and freedom to profess one's own faith. Trump also stated that the right to religious freedom is innate to the dignity of every human person and is foundational to the pursuit of truth.

However, Trump's statement that 'America has a long-standing commitment to freedom of conscience and freedom to express one's faith' is blatantly misleading, as well as historically inaccurate. The two specific statements I cited above are historically inaccurate because Native Americans have only had religious freedom for the last 40 years since the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed in 1978. In my personal opinion, his speech about the history of religious freedom in America is skewed and whitewashed. I don't expect everyone who reads my opinion to agree with me.

The purpose of my thread is to discuss the historical accuracy of his statements regarding the history of religious freedom in the United States. It is not to attack him because he is the president or a soapbox platform to deflect to liberal politicians or to attack liberals in general. I often hear from the right wing of politics about "Fake News" whenever it concerns Trump being accurately covered in the media. However, the article in question is from a Catholic news source, so I'm hoping that there won't be any accusations of fake news regarding the article or its overall content covering Trump's speech.

There are other statements that he made in his speech that are clearly refutable, but the statements he made in his speech that I have the most problem with are the two I quoted below.

“On Religious Freedom Day, we celebrate our nation’s long-standing commitment to freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess one’s own faith,”

“The right to religious freedom is innate to the dignity of every human person and is foundational to the pursuit of truth."

Reference Source: President Trump: Religious Liberty Is Innate to Every Human Person

* The article in question was originially posted in a congregational forum here:

President Trump: Religious liberty is innate in every human person

Trump's statement was truthful if not nuanced enough for you. Having a commitment to something does not have to equal being perfect at it. The Constitution specifically requires freedom of religion. That is a commitment to it from the early days of the United States. just about 13 years in to being a country the US made religious freedom a priority. the fact that those that were supposed to uphold that law were lacking in some instances ( I assume you are certainly more knowledgeable on the subject of religious persecution of Native Americans than I am, so I accept that what you have said about it is factual.) does not mean the commitment had not been made. He could have mentioned the times when that commitment was not lived up to but he did not nor is it required that every time we mention what we stand for as a country we always confess how short we come to meeting the standard we set.

 

[GlabrousDory4]

According to Trump, the United States of America has a long-standing commitment to freedom of conscience and freedom to profess one's own faith. Trump also stated that the right to religious freedom is innate to the dignity of every human person and is foundational to the pursuit of truth.

However, Trump's statement that 'America has a long-standing commitment to freedom of conscience and freedom to express one's faith' is blatantly misleading, as well as historically inaccurate. The two specific statements I cited above are historically inaccurate because Native Americans have only had religious freedom for the last 40 years since the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed in 1978. In my personal opinion, his speech about the history of religious freedom in America is skewed and whitewashed. I don't expect everyone who reads my opinion to agree with me.

The purpose of my thread is to discuss the historical accuracy of his statements regarding the history of religious freedom in the United States. It is not to attack him because he is the president or a soapbox platform to deflect to liberal politicians or to attack liberals in general. I often hear from the right wing of politics about "Fake News" whenever it concerns Trump being accurately covered in the media. However, the article in question is from a Catholic news source, so I'm hoping that there won't be any accusations of fake news regarding the article or its overall content covering Trump's speech.

There are other statements that he made in his speech that are clearly refutable, but the statements he made in his speech that I have the most problem with are the two I quoted below.

“On Religious Freedom Day, we celebrate our nation’s long-standing commitment to freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess one’s own faith,”

“The right to religious freedom is innate to the dignity of every human person and is foundational to the pursuit of truth."

Reference Source: President Trump: Religious Liberty Is Innate to Every Human Person

* The article in question was originially posted in a congregational forum here:

President Trump: Religious liberty is innate in every human person

Religious freedom and tolerance is, like all national myths, a story we tell ourselves to give ourselves credit for the stuff we DID do while ignoring the cases where we didn't.

It's pretty standard issue societal back-patting. America DID work hard to establish in its constitution that religion would not become a state-mandated item. And indeed we've had a wide variety of religions settle in the US without it being too big of a problem.

We have a messy history with religion, as all societies do. Religion begs people to believe the same way about unverifiable things and as such can be an unending bucket of strife and strain within society since conflicting religious views cannot be settled by objective analysis and usually wind up being bloody affairs. It is ever thus.

America has probably done a somewhat admirable job of keeping it under control better than some other countries, but clearly we still have battles. We still have some cults and sects which are actively worked against and which actively work against others. We still have some groups who try to legislate their own religion as the way things MUST be done.

Our strength is in our ability to debate it still and to grow.