Children's welfare should take legal priority over their parents' freedom of religion

Firstly I should like to say that I am sorry that my opponent, as a Christian, feels "that the Christians are the ones being attacked while every other religion out there can basically do as they please in this country and no one says word one about it. " Perhaps my opponent will take some comfort in the knowledge that because Christianity is the majority religion in America reports of "attacks" on Christians are likely to be the most numerous. Furthermore, these "attacks' are not necessarily the most vitriolic. For example, followers of Islam have also committed offences on American soil in the name of their religion, most notably the terrorist atrocities that took place on September 11th 2001, as a direct result of which hundreds of thousands of perfectly innocent Muslim civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan lost their lives. I am not saying the invasions of these countries by the US and her allies weren't justified (I believe they were, as it happens) but at least my opponent should concede that she doesn't have to worry about the USAF bombing her house like many Muslims do? My opponent does rightly point out that "freedom of religion and speech are just a couple of our rights as American citizens" and go on to quote ‘government will neither control nor prohibit the free exercise of one's religion' from the First Amendment to the American Constitution. However, neither of the rights of freedom of religion or speech are absolute - the federal hate crimes bill passed last year makes it an offence to express hatred against an individual or group based on their colour, religion, national origin, gender, disability or sexual orientation. (1) This law is seen by many as an infringement upon their freedom of speech. For example, Focus on the Family, an American parachurch organisation said that "hate crimes legislation paves the way for religious persecution" and that similar hate crime laws in other countries have been "used to prosecute Christians speaking their disapproval of homosexual behaviour, posing a serious threat to liberty and free speech". (2) In other words, these people argue that Christian homophobes should have the right to verbally abuse gays and lesbians because they do so in the name of their religion. My opponent goes on to suggest that a general legal dispensation should be extended to Christians by stating: "…unless (Christians) are doing something that is completely against the law like murdering someone, the government is not allowed to step in under any circumstances. " Now, members of certain Christian sects believe that powerful spells require the deaths of "unblemished" male children and boys are trafficked in from Africa for this purpose. (3) These Christians do not consider killing innocent children in the course of religious ceremonies to be "murders" or even crimes; rather they consider sacrificing children to God to be one of their religious duties. However, I assume that my opponent will agree with me that these Christians should, indeed, be charged with murder and with this being the case, she will also agree that by duly prosecuting them for their crimes their freedom of religion, as guaranteed in the American Constitution, would be denied them. So, in conclusion, if it is right to prosecute a Christian that deliberately kills a child, even though it may be unconstitutional to do so, it must therefore follow that it is right to prosecute a Christian that deliberately allows a child to die. Thank you. (1) . http://www.religioustolerance.org... (2) . http://www.family.org... (3) . http://www.thisislondon.co.uk...