Supreme Court takes on Christian Schools Case

There has always been division between people and diverse groups that think differently in our society. Separation of church and state is one example of growing aggravation between groups in government. There has been a growing battle within the supreme court about whether religion should be considered in government decisions. After much protest against this, the supreme court ruled to separate church and state.

However as it says in the article Supreme Court Takes Up Church-State Separation in Christian School Case by NBC, "The Supreme Court has never drawn a bright line between acceptable and prohibited public aid for religious programs" (Pete Williams). This is stating that although it is agreed upon for the government to remain secular, there is no clear line of what the Supreme Court should do when handling cases on religion.

The article talks about a case taken up by the supreme court on a scholarship offered to parents to send their children to private schools. However, the scholarship was only offered to parents who didn't send their children to religious private schools as the scholarship program didn't want to endorse religious education. One mother stated that "They should be treating families that want to go to religious schools the same as families that want to go to nonreligious schools. Not doing so, Smith said, violates the First Amendment's protection of free exercise of religion." The supreme court later ruled the scholarship program unconstitutional and banned it for religious and secular schools.

In my opinion, the scholarship program had no right to ban certain schools from receiving the scholarship as they do not have the right to tell low income households what schools to send their children to. The government should be neutral in this situation and not let their preferences on religion get in the way of their decisions. There have been several other cases like this that put into question if a person's freedom to exercise religion is being prohibited and it is not acceptable. The Supreme court need to make a definite decision on whether the government can help and support religious programs.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-takes-church-state-separation-christian-schools-case-n1117006

Ricky Gervais Defends His Freedom of Speech

In an age of sensitivity and political correctness being highly stressed, the speech that Ricky Gervais gave at the Golden Globes was seen as offensive and harsh to the audience and subjects of his jokes. Ricky Gervais has been known to take jokes too far sometimes but as this was his last time hosting the Golden Globes, he let nothing hold him back from delicate or avoided topics.

In an article by Fox News, Ricky Gervais claimed that his freedom of speech was "The lesser of two evils." He said that people being offended or upset by his jokes is a lot better than having no freedom of speech at all. "I'm happy to play by the rules. It's just that 200 million people watching have different rules. That's the plight. When people say 'He crossed the line' I say 'I didn't draw a line, you did.' It's relative. It's subjective." Gervais is stating that he has every right to go on stage and make any remarks he wants as that is his right and if people have a problem with it, its their problem-he doesn't have to apologize for making them upset.

Gervais stated that he never attacked or accused one person of doing something, but when he made a joke, "He doesn't think he'll target any 'individual' but rather 'the general community'" (Wulfsohn). Ricky told Wulfsohn that "People like the idea of freedom of speech until they hear something they don't like."

However, Gervais criticized and devalued many celebrities acceptance speeches for trying to bring attention to serious issues. "Thank your agent and your God and get the f*** off" (Evans). He also said "You're in no position to lecture the public about anything," Gervais was trying to limit their freedom of speech and becomes critical of others when they try and do the same to him.

In my opinion, Gervais should not be restricted on his freedom of speech as that is his right but he should also not limit others from doing the same. It is a privilege to be given freedom of speech, as there are many countries where that right is restricted, but you should not abuse or create conflict with this right. It is Gervais' responsibility to be a role model for many people but using his right bring others down is not setting a good example, no matter how funny the joke may be. However, he as a human has his right to express his opinion as he pleases and admire his bravery to speak his truth and exercise his first amendment right, even if people criticize him for it. 

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/ricky-gervais-free-speech-golden-globes
https://deadline.com/2020/01/ricky-gervais-2020-golden-globes-monologue-video-1202821155/