Poll: Some Americans believe Muslims, atheists are not protected under First Amendment

Some Americans believe that Muslims and atheists are not protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to a recent poll.

A survey by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Centre has found that 22 percent do not believe or do not know if Muslims in the U.S. had First Amendment rights.

Seventy-percent of Americans said that it was very or somewhat accurate to say their Muslim countrymen have the same rights as other citizens. Eighteen percent said it was very or somewhat inaccurate, while four percent said they did not know.

When the respondents were asked the same question regarding atheists, 79 percent said that it was very accurate or somewhat accurate. Fifteen percent said it was very or somewhat inaccurate and five percent said they did not know.

According to Religion News Service, 15 percent named freedom of religion when asked to name the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment. Just under half were able to name freedom of speech as a guaranteed right.

The First Amendment, which bans Congress from passing laws that discriminate against people of specific religious faiths, states: "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 peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Thirty-seven percent of the respondents were unable to name any of the rights that are protected under the amendment.

"These results emphasize the need for high-quality civics education in the schools and for press reporting that underscores the existence of constitutional protections," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

As many of 53 percent wrongly thought that undocumented immigrants do not have constitutional rights.

The matter was settled more than 130 years ago when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Yick Wo v. Hopkins case that the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause extends to noncitizens.

In the Zadvydas v. Davis case in 2001, the high court ruled that "due process" of the 14th Amendment applies to all aliens whose presence in the country is "unlawful, involuntary or transitory."

Other findings indicated that only 26 percent could name all three branches of the government, the same as last year's study.

The annual study was conducted on Sept. 17, ahead of Constitution Day, which was observed on Monday, Sept. 18, the anniversary of its signing in 1787. The survey, which included a sample size of 1,013 American adults, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.