Saying It Without Saying It

I was going to blog about Ann Coulter, but apparently if you use the words "fucking psycopathic cunt" on your homepage it negatively affects your search engine rankings.

The Big Ten

No, this isn't a post about collegiate sports. It's about the other Big Ten - the Ten Commandments.

Quite often, we hear conservative politicians and pundits whining that they want the Ten Commandments displayed in government buildings, courthouses, and the like. They claim that this ancient text is not just a religious display, but it is also the basis for all our laws, and as such should not be viewed as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

So, in the interest of fairness, let's examine this claim. First, we need to find the Ten Commandments in the Bible, to make sure we're getting this right.

And God spoke all these words:
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

"You shall not murder.

"You shall not commit adultery.

"You shall not steal.

"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

(Exodus 30:1-17)

God goes on to give a bunch more laws and instructions, including how to build a temple. Then, in Exodus 31:18, we are told that "When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God." Unfortunately, the Israelites were being very naughty, idolizing a golden calf. Exodus 32:19 states that "When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain." Oh, well.

God isn't one to leave his people without guidance, though. Here's what happens next:

The LORD said to Moses, "Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

Then the LORD said: "I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

"Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.

"Do not make cast idols.

"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

"The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.

"No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

"Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

"Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God.

"Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.

"Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.

"Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk."

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant — the Ten Commandments.

(Exodus 34:1,10-28)

The astute observer will notice some differences in this set of Ten Commandments and the first. But the Lord said he would write "the words that were on the first". So either God lied to Moses, or the writer of Exodus made a mistake. Later on in Deuteronomy Moses recites the first list to the people again, calling it the Ten Commandments. This is a bit of a conundrum. But, most if not all Jews and Christians assume that the first list is the correct Ten Commandments. I suppose we will have to do the same, though it might be more fun to discuss how the commandment not to cook a goat it its mother's milk is reflected in current American law.

So let's start looking at each of these Ten Commandments and see how they form the basis for our legal system. One at a time, straight through the list.

1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

   
   

   Well, most Americans were never brought out of slavery in Egypt, so let's just concentrate on the "you shall" part. Here's our first problem - the First Commandment violates the First Amendment to the Constitution by establishing a religion.




2. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them....

   
   

   Not only is this commandment also an establishment of religion, it also apparently outlaws the creation of any kind of sculpture other than abstract art. This would go against the freedom of expression also guaranteed by the First Amendment. Also note that Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore's giant Ten Commandments monument which caused so much controversy was in the form of something on the earth (the two stone tablets), and his followers spent a lot of time around it bowed down in prayer. Ironic, isn't it?




3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

   
   

   The Third Commandment also violates the First Amendment by restricting the freedom of speech, and one could argue that it also violates the Establishment Clause.




4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

   
   

   Again, this violates the First Amendment. A good thing, because it would be really hard to enjoy the weekend if every place of business was closed on Saturday.




5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

   
   

   Requiring a person to honor someone would be a bizarre attempt at thought policing. While not clearly unconstitutional, it's very doubtful that this would be enforceable.




6. You shall not murder.

   
   

   Finally, on the sixth commandment, we come to one that actually is part of our legal system. Of course, pretty much every code of conduct that has exer existed in human society has prohibited murder, so to say that this commandment is the basis of our laws against murder is assuming a lot.




7. You shall not commit adultery.

   
   

   Some states actually do have criminal codes prohibiting adultery, but some do not. They are rarely enforced, and Supreme Court decisions regarding privacy probably make them unenforceable. Interestingly, this commandment only applies to married women - a married man getting it on with an unmarried woman was not considered adultery in the patriarchal Hebrew society. Minnesota's adultery law reads that way; other states' laws apply to men as well. I'll give this one a half-point, because some states apparently do base their laws on it.




8. You shall not steal.

   
   

   Another hit - but like murder, theft is universally condemned, so the idea that this commandment is the basis for our law is dubious at best.




9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

   
   

   Yep, perjury is illegal. However, perjury was also illegal in ancient Greece, so once again the commandment cannot be the sole basis of our perjury laws.




10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

    
    

    Coveting, or desiring, your neighbor's stuff is not illegal, and would be another unenforceable thought crime. In fact, one could argue that coveting is a necessary part of our capitalist economy. Notice, also, that his wife and his servants (slaves) are considered to be mere possessions. This viewpoint is, to say the least, frowned upon in modern America.

So, I count three (and one-half, for adultery) commandments which are reflected in our legal system, but since all four of these prohibitions are universal or nearly so, it cannot be said that the commandments themselves form the basis of our laws. The fifth and tenth commandments are not the basis of any laws, and in fact our society encourages disobedience to the tenth. The first four are in direct conflict with the Constitution, which is what any rational person would call the true basis of our laws and government.

Now, would all of you who support putting the Ten Commandments on display in our courtrooms please stop lying about your motives and just admit that you want to convert the United States into a Christian theocracy?