North Dakota is considering a law that would require colleges and public schools to hang a copy of the 10 Commandments in every classroom. They already have a law that shields teachers from lawsuits if they elect to display these ancient rules of conduct. They are not alone. Other legislatures are considering, or have passed, similar laws.
Proponents of these statutes argue that, regardless of religious affiliation, the Commandments provide moral guidelines essential to ethical living. There is little doubt that they are more concerned with imposing their religious beliefs on society. The Commandments are to appear as a talisman of faith rather than any real guide to behavior.
These ulterior motives are evident by the fact that supporters of these laws eschew any rational discussion of what the Commandments actually say. Of course, even quoting them is problematic, unless you go back to the original Hebrew. I will use the King James version because it is the one most generally accepted by Christians in this country. In fact, I would bet that many think God used the King’s English when speaking with Moses on Mount Sanai.
Exodus 20: 2-17 states:
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.
Let’s look at what is to be imparted to the children of North Dakota.
Commandment 1 is bound to confuse the young ones. The edict to have no other God before this God implies that more than one God exists, heresy to any monotheist. The Bible itself does recognize these other Gods, mentioning, by one count, 54 alternate deities. My guess is that will not be discussed.
More difficult is the identity of the “me” referred to. Moses’ followers knew who this was. But there is still that pesky First Amendment. We cannot just come out and say that this is the Christian God (sorry Jews and Muslims, but he’s ours!!!). Does that leave “me” to be defined by each student based on their own beliefs? Are we really just saying, “Hey, get a God and put it before all the others.”?
The Second Commandment is one we kind of ignore. After all, we are a society of graven images, whether it’s touchdown Jesus, a meme coin of an orange god, or a poster of the latest pop idol. And we certainly do bow down and serve those idols, especially if there is money to be made doing so.
The second half of this Commandment (Exodus 20:5) will certainly be excised. How can we explain to kids that even if they keep the Commandments they are in deep doodoo if their Grampa slipped? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Plus, it doesn’t fit well with the idea of a loving God we like to project. Let’s face it. The God that promulgated these Commandments was not cuddly. Best to skip over that.
Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. Make it useful, Gosh Darn it!!!
Keep the Sabbath holy. It’s a day of rest. No tee ball games. Close the mall. Don’t go to restaurants, but have something at home, preferably made the day before. No football on the telly. They’re working and that’s forbidden. On second thought, let’s not get out of control.
We can all agree that honoring your mother and father is a good thing, can’t we? (Unless your parents are worthless heathens who voted for the wrong party, and object to us posting these commonsense rules of behavior).
Thou shalt not kill. It gets no more basic than that. However, as the Genie would say, there are a couple of provisos and quid pro quos. While you cannot kill, the state can do so on your behalf. Oh yes, and you can kill if we put you in a uniform and point you at someone we call an enemy. Otherwise, it’s a no, no.
I think it is a wonderful idea to introduce adultery (No. 7) to elementary school children. I can imagine the following conversation:
Tommy: Mrs. Snodgrass, what’s adultery?
Mrs. Snodgrass: Why that’s what your father does with his floozy of a secretary when he goes on [air-quotes] business trips.
Tommy: I get it. Like what you and Principal Principle do in the janitor’s closet when you think no one’s looking.
Mrs. Snodgrass: Shut-up Tommy.
There can be no argument with Number 8, can there. We should not steal. Failure to pay contractors who have done work for us or buying a painting of ourselves with money set aside for charitable donation doesn’t really count. Then again, most legislators are probably relying on kids not going that deep.
The prohibition against “false witness” also makes sense. Children should be taught that claiming something untrue is true with the intention of hurting someone or ruining their reputation is wrong. You know, like alleging that your neighbors are capturing pets and eating them when you know that’s false. No decent person could support that.
The final Commandment raises the inevitable question as to who our neighbor is. Moses could not have meant just the family next door. Might he have meant only those in our “tribe”? Possible, but certainly by the New Testament this was understood more broadly. That’s the whole point of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, isn’t it?
Putting that side, this is a good one. It is almost Buddhist. Striving is the source of suffering. Envy eats at the soul. For your own sake, and that of your community jealousies should be put aside. I think we have a winner!!!!
So, if we just pare these Commandments down, ignore the bits that are problematic and the hypocrisy of those pushing for their display, we have some decent guidelines for living a virtuous life. We could display these and explain away the difficulties, or we could look to another set of precepts that are not so laden.
I would suggest the Seven Social Sins, a list promulgated by Anglican Minister Frederick Donaldson, and popularized by Mohandas Gandhi. These sins are:
1. Wealth without Work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without Character
4. Commerce without Morality
5. Science without Humanity
6. Religion without Sacrifice
7. Politics without Principle
These I can get behind. They apply to everyone, regardless of gender, race or creed. No provisos and quid pro quos are needed. Put them up in every classroom. Make it mandatory that a week is spent reviewing and discussing them. Of course, for that to happen we would have to have legislators that avoid sin Number 7. Good luck with that!!
In the meantime, we have to fight to uphold the secular Commandment embodied in the First Amendment separating church and state. There should be no backdoors or loopholes to this Commandment. The beliefs of religious sects do not belong in our classrooms, no matter how you mask them. As my Father would say, “And thus ends the reading of the word”.