Politicians Editing the Ten Commandments
2theAdvocate reports on events in Louisiana where lawmakers are debating a bill that would allow the display of the Ten Commandments in government buildings:
Lawmakers made the alterations as they debated which version of the ancient biblical law — Protestant, Catholic or Jewish — should be embodied in a proposed state law. ... The committee didn’t settle on the version to include but did amend the more Protestant-oriented version in the bill after a civil-rights lobbyist noted some disparities.
“It says ‘murder’ rather than ‘kill,’” said Michael Malec, noting the Sixth Commandment, which commonly reads “Thou shalt not kill.”
“We can change that,” replied Rep. Peppi Bruneau, R-New Orleans, who handled the bill for its absent author, Sen. James David Cain, R-Dry Creek.
While the committee was at it, Bruneau said it might as well change the spelling of “honor” in the Fifth Commandment — “Honor thy father and thy mother” — which in the bill was spelled “honour.”
Malec, lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, said Catholics and Jews might be upset with the King James-type version included in the legislation by Sen. James David Cain, R-Dry Creek. “It supports a particular version when there are other versions,” Malec said.
“That’s a legitimate objection,” said Bruneau, who handled the bill for Sen. Cain. Malec said Cain’s version also includes “thou shalt not make unto thee any graven idol.” He said those words are not in the Catholic commandments.
Defenders of Ten Commandments displays, like First Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Bob Downing, dismiss this problem by saying that most people don’t know the differences between the various versions — or, indeed, that there are different versions in the first place. So it’s OK to promote one religion over others because people are too ignorant to realize that you are doing it?
That’s like saying it’s OK for government officials to break the law so long as they can keep they people from finding out what is being done in their name. If that’s Downing’s theory of “good government,” it’s a government we can all do without — and he’s a judge we can certainly do without, too.
Separation of Church & State:
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- What is the Separation of Church and State?
- Religion's Place in the Public Square
- Myths About Church/State Separation
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Comments
Typical of any religion, or point of view really. Take what you like from it, edit or leave out the rest.
Any truly faithful person must say there is only one bible, and there are no “versions” or interpretations of it. The change from murder to kill is a modern development that reflects a change in morality. Executions are not “murder” nor are deaths resulting from warfare. Changing the word to kill reflects a more liberal/modern view of not killing under any circumstance.
Man created god(s) in their own image.
I grew up with the good ol’ KJV of “Thou shall not kill” and have always thought the changing of kill to murder was the conservatives way of getting around capital punishment.