| The Ten Commandments are a religious proclaimation. They should not be promoted or endorsed by any arm of government and they should not be displayed in any government arena. |
| In the words of Justice Antonin Scalia, "I bet that 90 percent of the American people believe in the Ten Commandments and 85 percent couldn't tell you what they all are." The Kentucky lawyer actually told the justices that references to "God" in the commandments were minimal. This prompted Ruth Bader Ginsburg to ask if he'd actually read the first four. Source: "A monumental battle: Supreme Court wrestles with Ten Commandments cases" by Ellen Goodman - Washington Post Writers Group First of all, here they are: TEN COMMANDMENTS King James Version Exodus 20:1-17 1. And God spake all these words, saying, 2. I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 12. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13. Thou shalt not kill. 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15. Thou shalt not steal. 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. How can anyone deny that the many references to God in these verses make this a religious document? For example, did God bring you out of Egypt? I've never been to Egypt, and when I go, I will most likely be brought out of Egypt by American Airlines. If God specifically instructs us not to have other gods before him (her?), then the author of these verses implies that there are other gods. In any case, more religious references. No graven images, I.e. statues or sculptures? The country is full of them. Heck, the CHURCH is even full of them. One of the two recent Supreme Court cases revolves around a monument on the capital grounds in Austin, Texas that includes the Ten Commandments. How about that? A gaven image that features the commandment warning against creating graven images! Whether or not this is religious, it's just plain absurd. It's not likely in this modern age that anyone would worship one. (However it's hard to imagine anyone in this modern age worshiping the "big God guy in the sky" either.) But even assuming that there is someone out there worshiping a statue, do we condone punishing his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for his idiocy, as the commandment suggests? Take the Lords name in vain? Does that mean cussing? What does this mean even? And you can't work on Sunday either. (Unless you're Jewish, which means Saturday…who knows?) As for me, as long as we're living in the Bush economy, I'm going to work whenever I can get it. (Incidentally, we know now that it took slightly longer than six days for the Earth to form and life to evolve on it.) And how do you post a commandment that says you can't kill inside a courtroom that metes out the death penalty? And no coveting? Our whole "free market" economy is based up on the fabrication of desire for material products. We all decide that we don't need to go out and buy the latest gizmo to keep up with the Jonses, and the whole economy falls apart. Are these the Ten Communist Commandments? Not all of this is crap, just most of it. Like with the rest of the Bible, there is some good and some not so good. The U.S. Constitution clearly stipulates that government shall make no law establishing religion. To deny that this is a religious document is absurd. Individual officials of our government have no right to presume that their religious beliefs outweigh the dictates of the Constitution. |
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| Comments | Contributor | Date Submitted |
| I never have understood what's wrong with coveting, as long as you don't covet that ass so much that you go steal it. Of course the 10 Commandments are religious doctrine. The commandments should only be displayed on government property if every other religion on the planet gets to display something of their own. We'd have to allow buddists, muslims, wiccans, athiests, satanists, scientologists, those who worship lamp posts, everyone. It would get awfully crowded. | Linda Denton |
3/7/2005 |
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