My right(s) trump your right(s)!

Of course, one person's rights should not trump another person's rights, but that's how people seem to act nowadays. So many things are said (and done) under the banner of "free speech", and so many people make so much noise that it seems the intent is only to drown out the other person - or anyone with whom they disagree. This happens on the left, and on the right. Sometimes it is literally someone in your face trying to speak over you and, other times it is what we have come to call "cancel culture". As a casual, but interested observer, it appears that First Amendment protections of free speech, and to peacefully assemble (and to associate), are falling prey to the same forces that have and continue to attack our individual and collective freedom of religion: You can do what you want to do or say, as long as someone does not find it offensive, and, of course, if what you are saying or doing is not mainstream, you must do it in the privacy of your own home.

The First Amendment declares, in very plain language, "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 to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Respecting means with regard or reference to; abridging means to deprive of (or shorten); and prohibiting means to formally forbid. Read another way, the First Amendment means that Congress shall make no law with regard to establishing a religion, or of prohibiting a people from exercising their religious beliefs or practices, or to deprive anyone of their right to free speech. Some people say that you have the right to practice your religion, but you must do so in your own church, or the privacy of your own home, and that your religions beliefs, morals, or speech should not or cannot be freely practiced or spoken anywhere else. If Congress were to pass a law limiting your ability, individually or collectively, to practice or speak about your religious beliefs, practices, dogma, rules, or rituals, anywhere, or even outside of your church or home, how many First Amendment rights are being affected? If you are okay with this infringement on someone else's rights, are you okay doing away with your own right to free speech, or to assemble or to practice or not practice your secular or non-secular beliefs? Asking for a friend.