March 31, 2005
Thou Shalt... What?
When I was young, I learned the of Ten Commandments before I learned
of the Bill of Rights. Indeed, I remember asking my mother why the Ten
Commandments were not part of the U. S. Constitution after I read
it for the first time. (Neither were taught to me in school--nor did I
attend church--I was basically a self-taught youngster. Yes, the school
systems I grew up in were that bad; we learned legends, not history,
where I grew up. Luckily, I grew up in a home where there were many
books.)
But I was never taught (it was never "drummed" into me) that the
Bible was the absolute truth which we must obey. To me, the Bible was
just another book. Or something about which grand movies were made.
I also was never directly taught that the U. S. Constitution was some
kind of "truth" that we must all obey--but I was taught the legends
of the Founding Fathers and the Revolution and Paul Revere's Ride.
And I knew that U. S. Constitution was very important. I had just
never actually read it until I found it in a book
And as I mellowed with age I became astonished at the extreme emotion
that people attached to religious icons such as monuments (or plaques)
to the Ten Commandments. (I am hardly astonished at extreme emotions
attached to the U. S. Constitution, but of such instances we hardly
ever hear.)
That a stone monument to the Ten Commandments can simply be called an
"acknowledgement of God" and that also such an acknowledgement can be
equated as part of the founding principles of the U. S. Constitution
invokes in me an extreme emotion.
That the Ten Commandments--nor anything remotely akin to them--are not
in the U. S. Constitution should make it clear enough to all intelligent
people that our Government was not founded on Christian principles.
The only reference to God is in the Declaration of Independence--written
on the eve of Revolution some ten years before the drafting of the
U. S. Constitution.
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them
with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the
separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of
Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions
of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation."
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness."
These references are an acknowledgment of the existence of A God,
most assuredly. However, these references did not make it into the U. S.
Constitution.
State Constitutions, however, do reference God; the references are
though, almost verbatim the Declaration of Independence. (Some State
Constitutions pre-date the U. S. Constitution.) Here are some examples.
"WE, the People of the State of Indiana, grateful to ALMIGHTY GOD
for the free exercise of the right to choose our own form of government,
do ordain this Constitution."
-- Indiana
"We, the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God
for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution"
-- Arizona
"We, the people of the State of Alabama, in order to establish justice,
insure domestic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity, invoking the favor and guidance of
Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution
and form of government for the State of Alabama:
"That all men are equally free and independent; that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
-- Alabama
Note that this is all that these documents say about "God". There are
no "Thou shalts" in our State Constitutions.
Here is the first Commandment:
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
First and foremost, such a statement is the definition of non-tolerance.
It reads like an edict forbidding the worship of any other god. And as
such it goes against the U. S. Constitution and the State Consitutions.
The U. S. Constitution (Amendment I) states:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"
Which has as much room for interpretation, perhaps, as the Bible,
but State Constitutions have clauses like these:
"No man shall be compelled to attend, erect or support any place
of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent. No
human authority ought, in any case whatever, to control or interfere
with the rights of conscience in matters of religion, and no
preference shall ever be given by law to any religious society
or mode of worship."
-- Texas
"... nor shall any man be compelled to attend, erect or support
any place of worship, or to maintain any religious or ecclesiastical
ministry, against his consent; nor shall any control of or interference
with the rights of conscience be permitted, or any preference be given
by law to any religious establishment or mode of worship;"
-- Minnesota
"... and all religious sects and denominations, demeaning themselves
peaceably, and as good citizens of the commonwealth, shall be equally
under the protection of the law; and no subordination of any one sect
or denomination to another shall ever be established by law."
-- Massachusetts
"That no religion shall be established by law; that no preference
shall be given by law to any religious sect, society, denomination, or
mode of worship; that no one shall be compelled by law to attend any
place of worship; nor to pay any tithes, taxes, or other rate for
building or repairing any place of worship, or for maintaining any
minister or ministry; that no religious test shall be required as a
qualification to any office or public trust under this state; and that
the civil rights, privileges, and capacities of any citizen shall not
be in any manner affected by his religious principles"
-- Alabama
Our country's Declaration of Independence and our State's Constitutions
all acknowledge God, but they do so in a very general way. These
acknowledgements of God are also subjective to clauses of "freedom of
religion".
The Ten Commandments do more than just acknowledge God, they form the
basis for the establishment of a religion, of particular religions (there
are Protestant, Catholic and Hebrew versions of the Ten Commandments, all
of which slightly differ).
Any display of the Ten Commandments in a Federal or State Government
building or on Federal or State Government property establishes a religion.