June 11, 2003
Thou shall not....
What is it with the ten commandments that makes everyone crazy?
"It's a little heartbreaking," protestor Terry Lewis said. "Our children and grandchildren have the right to read those commandments at any time they want."In some cases Monday, church members watched their pastors go into custody, WLWT reported. Sharon Fulton, wife of the Rev. Phil Fulton, said she never dreamed she'd see her husband in the back of a police cruiser.
"I think our rights are being taken away, just for the sake of one person, who's a small minority of people," she said.
How do people even suggest this nonesense of the right to read those commandments.... Blah,blah,blah. I mean, yes. The kids have a right to read those commandments any time they want. That's a separate issue from posting the commandments in stone on public school property. (It'd be interesting to find out who paid for it). These people seem to think that having the stones at school makes a difference. Isn't that parental abstentia?
If you want your kids to know about the bible/10 commandments teach them. Don't carve it in stone and hope they bother reading it.
I sometimes think that we, as a nation, should come up with a secular version of the big 10. It should be easy - just take away all that 'thou' stuff and mix the words up. We could even add or take away one, so it's not 10. I actually found a site which has some thoughts on this here . Here's what they suggest:
1)Respect and worship any deity within your faith tradition, if you follow one. Value and support the right of others to do the same.2)Enjoy and support legal guarantees of freedom of religious belief, religious practice, assembly and speech for all.
3)Do not use obscene speech in the name of the deities of any religion.
4)Follow the guidance of your faith or secular tradition every day of the week, because every day is special.
5)Help to establish social safety nets so that the very young, the elderly, the sick, mentally ill, physically disabled, unemployed, poor and broken will receive adequate medical attention and enjoy at least a minimum standard of living.
6)Minimize the harm you do to others and yourself. Treat others as you would wish to be treated.
7)Do not engage in sexual activity with another person, which is coercive, unsafe, manipulative, public, or outside of a committed monogamous relationship.
8)Do not steal the property of others, except in case of emergency (and then only if attempt to replace or pay for it later).
9)Do not lie, either in or out of court. Be honest and truthful at all times.
10)Attempt to be satisfied with your current standard of living; do not obsess over the possessions of others; that path leads to personal unhappiness.
Actually not a bad start. I could see problems with the 'Don't steal unless it's an emergency' part and the obscene speech part. We'd also have the righties trying to define what 'safe' sexual conduct means. (If it's not in a god recognized marriage - you'll go to hell. Is that SAFE?)
I might add 2 more:
11)Remember free speech is a right and responsibility that all people have.
12) Thou shall not be a moron.
What whould you add/take away?
Comments:Paul Anderson said (at July 6, 2003 02:13 AM):
Thank you for helping me to understand the difference between the right and the left.
The right realize that we are all human and left to our own devices we will certainly look out for self. The left are fooled into thinking that man will actually do the right thing left to his own devices.
The left foolishly leaves God out of the picture or at least thinks that we can include Him at our conveinence.
To take God(not Allah, or whatever other name you try to call Him) out of the Ten Commandments you lose the power to live right. It is not man that is able to live right and do right by his fellow man, it is God in man, through His Holy Spirit that can do right by man.
This is not my thinking this is truth. If a man will trully seek His face, God, God Jehovah, will reveal Himself to man. He is not far off as some think. He desires to be actively involved in all of our lives.
Paul
Henry said (at July 7, 2003 09:27 AM):
Your comment makes me think that you don't really understand the left at all.
If god is how you justify your morality - that's fine. No one wants to take that away from you. The point of the post, if indeed you read any of it, is that the majority of the 10 commandments are fine moral values. They are - the problem is that as soon as you try to promote them as they are, which is part of a biblical story, you lose a chunk of the audience. Whether you like it or not, not everyone believes in god and even those who do, don't agree on a whole lot as it comes to his teachings/intents, ect.
This is not truth, it's fact.
I don't think god should be included or not included at my convenience./ I think Government, in all it's forms, should stay away from god. Leave God to the people - so they can follow him as they choose. Even Jesus recognized that government is separate from god.
I also don't think that instead of saying 'Though shall not kill' you say 'Don't murder' (taking god out of it) somehow diminishes the message.
The right's insistence that our government include god in the national morality is what stops any sort of core values from being imparted. Yes, I guess I foolishly hope that the majority of people, even without the threat of hell for eternity, will do the right thing. I know not all will, but I believe that most will.
Forgive me for having faith in my fellow man.