Here we go again, with the religious right trying to shove the Christian religion down the throat of all Americans, Christian or not. Don’t get me wrong, I am Christian and go to a mainstream protestant church almost every Sunday. I am familiar with the ten commandments and try to follow them in my life.
The commandments are, in shortened form:
- Have no other gods other than the Judeo-Christian God,
- Do not worship idols,
- Don’t take the name of the Judeo-Christian God in vain,
- Remember the Sabbath day,
- Honor your father and mother,
- Do not commit murder,
- Do not commit adultery,
- Do not lie,
- Do not steal,
- Do not covet.
You will note that the first 4 have nothing to do with daily non-religious life. They are commandments to be a good Jew or a good Christian. They have no place whatsoever, in a school where people of any faith, or no faith, go to learn. It is absurd to put them in all classrooms in Louisiana.
Bob Scofield
Deirdre LaMotte says
11: Thou shalt not shove thine religion down other people’s throats.
If words are needed to inspire an American student, then let them post the preamble of the Constitution: not a religious text that violates an amendment of the Constitution.
Gene Milker says
That is why we are the second dumbest state in union. only mississippi is ranked ahead of louisiana.
Jane E. Hukill says
Thanks Bob. I am afraid those people who keep pushing this through the years flunked their early US history.
Stephen Z. Meehan says
I agree with Diedre LaMotte about teaching the U.S. Constitution early and often. The Federalist Papers are the bible for our state religion.
Turning to the author’s piece, the biblical writers were seeking a wide audience and likely did not get caught up in the label silos of modern rhetoric. The Bible isn’t your enemy, Mr. Scofield. It’s the great moral playbook.
The Ten Commandments is central in both the Jewish and Muslim faiths. The second time around with Christianity, God shortened the rules for mankind: Love Him before all others, and treat your neighbor as you would want to be treated.
While Commandments 1-4 hanging on the school house door may be perceived by some as a form of religious establishment, I am curious if Mr. Scofield believes that non-Jews, Christians, and Muslims would not benefit from following these rules of conduct?
Timothy Sullivan says
By posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms, it will make those students who read them, stop their evil way. They just might start showing respect for life, people’s property, and start to respect the elderly. Things that should be taught at home, but the parents of today, are not doing.
I hope that all fifty states do this, in hopes of stopping the violence that is being shown by this younger generation.
I too am a devout Christian, who attends Mass every Sunday. Just maybe by putting God back in people’s lives, we might see a better and friendlier world.
Deirdre LaMotte says
I beg to differ on this. This law will manage to push even more people away from coercive Christianity whether it gets struck down or not. When people of faith think their faith requires them to impose rules on everyone else then they are doing religion wrong. Religion or faith should be about looking in the mirror.
Pam Vogel says
However, it’s not the schools responsibility to “put God back in peoples lives”; that’s on the parents! As someone who worked in the public school for years, I saw how schools had to take on teaching kids everything. If we allow the Ten Commandments in school, then every religion should be allowed to have their codes of conduct side by side.
Barbara Belden says
Also an active, practicing Christian and old enough to remember Blue Laws used to enforce the fourth commandment of honoring the Sabbath as a day of rest. Businesses, industries and services curtailed and legally prohibited from operating on Sunday. Think the Louisiana governor plans to go this route in honoring Moses’ law giving? Wouldn’t that be a battle to behold,
Pam Vogel says
If they do put The Ten Commandments in schools, it should be written in the script it was originally written in, Hebrew.
Rev. Joel L Tolbert says
Thank you Bob! So honored to have a member like you at http://www.presbyterianchestertown.org
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