Weekly Poll: Ten Commandments in Government Buildings
Many devout Christians take the Ten Commandments very seriously and would like to see the government display the Ten Commandments in public buildings like schools. This would appear to be a way for the government to support and endorse the Ten Commandments — but isn't that unconstitutional? Indeed, courts have consistently ruled that Ten Commandments displays are unconstitutional so Christians try to get around this by including other documents as well.
Most of the time when people argue that the Ten Commandments should be displayed in schools, they defend their position with the idea that the Commandments are a historical document which might, perhaps, serve as a moral inspiration. It isn't often that you find someone actually arguing that they should be displayed for the purpose of getting students to obey them, but most of the time that seems to be the actual motivation. They aren't defending a history lesson, but a set of moral commands.
Conservative Christians repeatedly and across various contexts defend the Ten Commandments as a vital foundation of both morality and law. According to them, failures to obey both morality and law are why America needs to have the Ten Commandments displayed in more places: school rooms, courts, and other public spaces. They insist that unless Americans recognize their duty to the Christian god, matters will only get worse as time goes by.
Comments
I think you’re being spammed by Fundies again. 51% yes, so far? On Ag/Ath? Not likely. Look for a swarm of ‘em. They’ll probably flock here like a bunch of the proverbial locusts plague. Like a bunch of sharks circling around chum.
Richard Dawkins raises an interesting point in “The God Delusion” (pp. 288-289) where he shows that the Ten Commandments, as they appear in the Old Testament, were never intended to mean what Christians now think they mean. It needs to be understood that the in-group of the saved in those days was limited strictly to Jews. “Thou shalt not kill” actually meant “Thou shalt not kill Jews” - anyone else was considered fair game. And all those Commandments concerning “thy neighbour” are equally specific. “Neighbour” means fellow Jew.
Some moral code, huh.
The 10 commandments ARE religious - but even the majority don’t “keep” them, especially with regard to keeping the Sabbath which, according to the Bible, is the 7th day (Saturday), not Sunday. Will posting the 10 commandments anywhere persuade anyone to switch from “worshipping” on Sunday (which the Catholic Church insituted)to the 7th-day Sabbath which is supposedly the Jewish day of worship? No where in the New Testament is there any indication that Sunday is to be observed because of the Christ’s so-called resurrection.
Thou shall not have any god other than me.
If that’s not in a religious tract, I don’t know what is.
If this is a spam then fundies are dumber than the apes they decended from.
Although I voted no, I would be willing to allow posting of the Decalogue providing that along with it was a list of the punishments prescribed by the Old Testament for transgressing the Commandments, along with the various other commandments in the Old Testament that directly contradict them. E.g., there is one commandment against killing or murder, depending on who is translating. On the other hand, there are at least 20 instances of commandments to kill people for various offenses, ranging from picking up sticks on Sabbath, for failure to be a virgin at the time of marriage (applies only to women, of course), or for the unthinkable sin of worshiping another god. (If there really is only one god, how could one worship another god?)
For good measure, one could also include the OT rules for treatment of slaves.
No comments should be allowed on the entire posting, except for citing chapter and verse and the version of the Bible that was cited for both the Decalogue and the additional material, all of which should be from the same version. The additional material should be written in the same size, contrast, color, etc. as the Decalogue.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me”
Yeah, definitely religious! Of course, no one, not even the advocates of them, actually takes the time to read them. They only refer to the truncated “Sunday school” version which greatly masks the pettiness of most of them.
The version of the Ten Commandments they want to display is always the Protestant version which includes the prohibition against graven images. Their version of the decalogue is divisive and overtly anti-Catholic. Can you imagine a Catholic Church without graven images?
The first four of the ten are definitely religious. The remaining six are good moral values that anyone could follow.
Are we discriminating against Christians by denying them the right to display the ten commandments? They seem to think so even though the commandments where give by an imaginary god to an imaginary Moses 3,500 years ago. Christians are good at adopting other religion’s rites and holidays. It is an interesting myth in any case.