“Freedom of speech.” This is a saying that is heard in many circumstances today. The right to free speech and religious worship is an important part of this country, and it is crucial that people do not take that for granted. American citizens have rights, but there are limits to our rights. 

On January 18, anti-ICE protestors marched into a Baptist Church in Minnesota. When the pastor there asked them to leave, one protestor claimed that they have the freedom to speak whatever they desire. While freedom of speech is a core part of the Constitution and what makes America so great, the right to private property, as mentioned in the Fifth Amendment, is also part of the Constitution. Those protestors did not have the right to barge into a Church, which is private property, and claim they had the right to be there because of free speech. This is why it is important to teach and understand the Constitution. 

“I think the problem is that people don’t recognize that your Bill of Rights is not absolute. In other words, you actually cannot protest wherever you want. You can’t say anything you want, and in all actuality, you cannot practice any religion you want. If you have practices within your religion that violate state law, you can’t do that. I think this idea that all of our freedoms are absolute is a silly, nonsense thing to believe,” said Lori Kearney, High School Social Studies Department Chair. 

The First Amendment, which gives a U.S. citizen the right to free speech, allows anyone to speak openly in any public area, protest, or say whatever they want against the government. It does not allow people to go onto someone’s property to speak freely. A police officer or any other person is not allowed to enter someone’s house or land without a warrant, as said in the Fourth Amendment, and that goes the same for what happened in Minnesota. It is not right to barge onto someone’s property, speak against them, and then defend those actions with “freedom of speech.” 

A similar instance to what occurred in Minnesota happened at Sacred Heart, a Catholic Church in Tampa. Fr. Steve Kluge, a priest at Sacred Heart, says “a few months ago, we at Sacred Heart experienced anti-Catholic protests in front of the Church during mass. The good thing was they never entered the Church. They stood on the sidewalk and directed insults against Catholics and against me personally as a priest. We couldn’t do anything about that because the protestors were on the sidewalk, which is public property. I think the [Minnesota] protestors made a mistake of entering private property.” 

Although freedom of speech is a fundamental right in the constitution, it does not and cannot take away other rights, such as private property and religion. Sometimes, people do not understand what the Constitution truly says, which is why it is important to be knowledgeable with what the Bill of Rights says and do research to comprehend the full meaning. 

“At almost any given time, I think many people don’t fully understand the First Amendment. For example, there are exceptions to free speech like if you are threatening violence or spewing hate towards a certain race, you could be subjected to arrest. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean you can say anything you want. For example, you could be held in contempt if you lie under oath. And yes, certain freedoms can be suspended if they compromise another,” says High School Social Studies teacher, Jackie McKeon. 

The First Amendment is a complex amendment, and as McKeon states, “you easily could take a college semester class on simply the interpretations of just the varying parts of the First Amendment.” This is why it would be in our best interest, especially our generation, to completely look deeply at this amendment, understand it, unpack it, and not just take a headline that comes across on social media and assume anything. We owe it to ourselves, our country, and our Constitution to uphold these rights, to understand them deeply, and to look at it on all sides.