10 Commandments in schools

As you probably heard, Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom.

It’s obviously a violation of the Constitution’s freedom of religion and separation of church and state, but also, it’s a stupid list of rules.

If you were to choose the ten most important rules for a person to live a morally just life, your list wouldn’t come close to the Ten Commandments from the Bible.

The first three Commandments (extracted from the most often used King James Bible) are only designed to maintain monotheism and appease God’s ego. They are not moral or ethical guidelines but rules insisting only one God exists.

• Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
• Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
• Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Three Commandments—30% of the list—essentially say, “Me, only me, and be nice to me!”

They start to look even more foolish when considering the ones left off the list.

We’ll get to that shortly.

The fourth Commandment states:

• Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

This is a nonsense Commandment because almost no Christian (or human being) adheres to this tenet. According to the Bible, “Keeping the Sabbath holy” means you are not allowed to work, play, or engage in any financial transactions on Sunday, and the punishment for doing so is death.

It’s extremely clear about this.

This is the heart of the fourth Commandment. So, if you go to brunch with friends, watch an NFL game on television, go fishing, or mow your lawn, you have violated this Commandment.

It’s one of the Ten Commandments, yet almost no one even tries to follow it. It’s one of the ten most significant rules in the Bible, yet it’s utterly ignored. And once again, when you consider what is absent from the list, it looks even more stupid.

The next two Commandments read:

• Honor thy father and thy mother.
• Thou shalt not kill.

These are good rules. Given what’s absent from the list, I’m not sure if honoring your father and mother should be in the top ten, but it’s at least not stupid.

Outlawing murder is an excellent Commandment – the first Commandment so far that’s a slam dunk – but I’m not sure if we need it adorning the walls of a kindergarten classroom.

The next:

• Thou shalt not commit adultery.

This is a fine Commandment, but should it be displayed on the wall of a schoolhouse? Are we really worried about middle school children committing adultery?

With who? Their sexy neighbor?

The next two read:

• Thou shalt not steal.
• Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Solid Commandments. “Bearing false witness” is often applied in a legal sense, but if we stretch the meaning outside the courtroom, it’s a fine rule to live by. Even appropriate for the schoolhouse wall. “Don’t steal” and “Don’t lie” are things I’ve said to students many times over the years.

Lastly, we have this:

• Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

This Commandment speaks to envy, which is fine in principle but not exactly something we have much control over. It would be great to look across your lawn at your neighbor’s swimming pool and not wish you had one, too, but that is probably beyond the capacity of many people.

Also, are we worried about third graders longing for their neighbor’s manservant, ox, or spouse?

Again, that sexy neighbor?

In summary, four of the Ten Commandments are complete nonsense, existing only to appease the ego of a God who wants to be the one and only and have his day.

Two others—honor your mother and father and don’t be envious—are fine but definitely not in the top ten.

This leaves us with four solid Commandments:

Don’t kill.
Don’t steal.
Don’t have sex outside of your marriage (presumably without consent)
Don’t lie.

Four solid rules to follow to maintain a moral life.

What is left off the list?

Don’t rape.
Don’t assault other people.
Don’t physically, sexually, or emotionally abuse children.
Don’t enslave or traffic other people.
Don’t discriminate based on race, sex, national origin, migrant status, etc.
Don’t treat animals inhumanely.

That’s just a start.

Even if it was Constitutional to require schools and other public institutions to post the Ten Commandments in their face cities, the list is dumb. It includes nonsense and excludes things essential for any moral code.

It’s also an irrelevant code to most Americans. In a recent poll, 60% of Americans could not name five of the Ten Commandments, and only 14% could name all ten.

It’s a stupid list ignored by most people because it’s stupid.

And now it’s a list hanging on the walls of Louisiana schoolhouses statewide.

Unconsitutuiional, but almost worst, pointless, illogical, and stupid.