Whose Ten Commandments?

With all the Christian legislators, judges, and busybodies trying to get the Ten Commandments of Moses into permanent public displays at places of government, I thought a review of them would be in order. After all, they're supposedly an important part of our cultural heritage and the basis of our legal code.

So let's check them out one by one, to see if they're something I really agree with, and if they're really the basis for U.S. laws:

1: "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

OK, we're already in trouble here. For one thing, he's not my God. I'm not Hebrew, so my people were never in bondage in Egypt. And that bit about other gods stands in direct contradiction to the anti-establishment clause of the First Amendment. So we've got a conflict with my my own personal values, and the law of the land.

2: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."

Again, he's not my God, so the commandment is meaningless to me. And this one conflicts with the free-speech clause of the First Amendment, which guarantees the right to say things like "God this cheeseburger is heavenly!"

3: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them."

Taken literally, this forbids making any kind of respresentational sculptures or even illustrations, which is definitely not consistent with my own beliefs. I'm a practising likeness-maker. I'm not the sort to bown down to these things, but I'm not going to stand in the way of anyone who wants to. And it's pretty clearly inconsistent with the free-expression-of-religion clause of the First Amendment, because it says that idol worshippers... can't.

4: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."

No day of the week is holy to me. Not even Fridays. Although there are laws on the books that try to enforce such a thing (like those prohibiting the sale of alcohol between 2am and noon on Sunday), they really are nothing more than thinly-disguised attempts to establish a particular religion.

5: "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long."

OK, finally here's one I'm OK with, personally. I'm all for treating one's parents with respect. But there's precious little in U.S. law that actually reflects this principle. Once a person reaches adulthood, they're free to disobey and disrespect their parents all they want.

6: "Thou shalt not kill."

Another I agree with. And our laws are pretty solidly behind it as well (albeit with exceptions for circumstances). But the notion that this is where civil laws against killing came from is pretty ludicrous, because there were laws against killing in civilisations that pre-date the time of Moses.

7: "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

They're starting to lose me again. I agree with the principle that if someone pledges not to have sex with anyone else, he should live up to that. But I'm really not that keen on monogamy, for myself personally. And I think any broken promises of fidelity are a matter between the two people involved, not the state. Nonetheless, there's a long tradition of prohibiting adultery in our legal system. But of course it too goes back to sources other than Moses.

8: "Thou shalt not steal."

See "Thou shalt not kill."

9: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

I'd say that's a good rule. (Especially since it doesn't say "Thou shalt not lie", which would be a whole different kettle of fish.) And since perjury can result in someone going to jail or receiving some other legal penalty, I'd say it's appropriate for the law to enforce this rule, as it does.

10: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. "

I'll covet my neighbour's ass all I want. Seriously, while coveting isn't exactly the most admirable thing to do, and I generally avoid it myself, I don't see any great harm coming from it. Interestingly this one is at complete odds with our society, in which coveting the Joneses' house and car and other possessions is the engine of our economy. There certainly aren't any laws against coveting.

So there we have it: Only 4 out of 10 (# 5,6,8,9) are things that match my own personal beliefs. Only 4 out of 10 (# 6,7,8,9) are actually consistent with the laws of the United States. And the three that actually stand up to both tests are the no-brainer commandments against killing, stealing, and perjury. Like anybody really needed those handed to them on stone tablets.

All of which goes to shows that: A) Promoting the Ten Commandments is shoving a religion I don't believe in down my throat. And: B) They're very thoroughly un-American.

Of course a huge majority of Americans favor putting these commandments on display in government buildings. Because they happen to believe in them. But that's whole damn point of putting protections in the Constitution for religious freedom: to protect the minority from the tyrrany of the majority. And the majority who want to override that are welcome to go fuck off and establish their theocratic dictatorship somewhere else.