The Bill of Rights, the Constitution is over-hyped.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

This is a semi-cut-and-paste of a response I had to previous thread somewhere.

MY PREMISE: THE LAW IS AN ASS. It sucks. It sucks hard, especially when corporations and a general feeling of convenience sweeps through the land. I'd DIE before I let someone come on my property and take away a slave. I'd DIE. I would not kill, but I would most certainly DIE. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That's it. Fight over it. Don't budge. But don't let dumb-ass legal precedent get in your way. A human is a human is a human. Just go from there. Lincoln did. Dred Scott was a HUGE impediment. Lincoln appealed to the preamble--THE statement which acted as a foundation to all law.

The original post asked whether religion and the Bills of Rights came into to conflict. They don't for me. I choose to ignore the law all the time. Yes, yes, the Bill of Rights provide me with protection, but even without said protection I'd continue living my life as I see fit. I may be persecuted, fined, etc., but laws won't really stop me from doing what I think is right (ask the millions of Russian Orthodox and Catholic who lived during communist Russia; ask the Jews throughout the history of Christian Europe, ask the native Americans when the Puritans came . . . etc.).

Yes, I live a comfortable life because of the Bill of Rights, but sometimes comfort is an obstacle to the more meaningful things in this world. Living a life of pure comfort makes me buy my food from a local farmer, makes me not shop at Wal-Mart, makes me not subscribe to cable, etc. I'm not purer or more righteous than the next sap. I have a simple faith that tells me that suffering in the world names my occupation--to do what I can, in whatever humble ways, to live a humble life, and to relieve suffering in whatever absurd way I can. My life is not focused on my suffering; it is to relieve others of theirs. Simple. I don't need a Bill of Rights to tell me that. And I sure as hell don't need a Bill of Rights to give my country an excuse to 1) ignore suffering in the world and 2) to produce more suffering because the Bill of Rights endorses it or doesn't come out against it.

And my faith tells me to subscribe to Netflix.

I mean, really, how can you take away my right to prayer? Do you really think I can't hide an icon? And if you find it, do you really think that I and my family aren't ready to die for it? Or, if you're an oppressive regime enforcing the worshiping of icons, do you really think you can stop me from spreading literature accusing you of idolatry? Bill of rights? I need no Bill to give me my rights.

The face of the other individual is both my temptation to murder and my commandment, "Thou shall not murder."

Ouch!!!! I just fell off my soapbox.