{"id":27888,"date":"2024-10-18T14:54:06","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T14:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/wordpress\/?p=27888"},"modified":"2024-10-18T14:54:08","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T14:54:08","slug":"the-ten-commandments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/wordpress\/the-ten-commandments\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ten Commandments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Four Too Many<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You have to give some<\/em> of the Christians in our midst considerable credit. They bend, but don’t break. They keep their eyes on the ball. They’re definitely in it for the long haul. Blink and they might enshrine another of their “religious practices” into our secular lives. Am I biased? Perhaps. I am talking here about Louisiana’s latest declaration<\/a>, which places the Ten Commandments on prominent display in all institutions of public learning in the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you want to respect the rule of law, you\u2019ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses,\u201d Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry declared on June 19, 2024. [And then came the tsunami. Are all extremists mere followers and conformists at heart?]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"ten\"\/
Louisiana Gov. Jeff “Red Tie” Landry<\/strong> (Pool photo by Michael Johnson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ten to One It’s<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Nonsense. The Code of Hammurabi<\/a>, for one, predates the laws of Moses. There are others<\/a>. Secondly, the Ten Commandments<\/em><\/a> as we know them have, in part, an explicitly religious<\/em> cast. That religious designation, I would remind you, was sustained forty-four years ago in a decision made by the highest Court <\/a>in the U.S. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe Commandments do not confine themselves to arguably secular matters, such as honoring one\u2019s parents, killing or murder, adultery, stealing, false witness, and covetousness,\u201d the 1980 Supreme Court decision read. \u201cRather, the first part of the Commandments concerns the religious duties of believers: worshipping the Lord God alone, avoiding idolatry, not using the Lord\u2019s name in vain, and observing the Sabbath Day.\u201d<\/p>\nJustice William Brennan, U.S. Supreme Court, November 17, 1980<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

To Hell In A Handbasket<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, I know. American society is going to hell in a handbasket. Crime is up (the most recent statistics say, “Not exactly<\/a>.” Violent and property crimes in the U.S. have plunged<\/em> since the 1990s). Religious affiliation is down<\/a> (yup). Anything to fix the problem, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The subtext of the Louisiana declaration is, apparently, that only the ten Mosaic commandments can save us. If you are not Christian or Jewish, get on board, dammit! I say that because the first four Mosaic injunctions are aimed at a certain subset of believers. “Worship the Lord God alone.” Whose God? What do I say to my Hindu<\/a> friends? My Buddhist<\/a> friends? Even my Muslim<\/a> friends, who have their own, not always overlapping, Commandments? To say nothing of the increasing numbers of unaffiliated and non-believers among us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"ten\"\/
Pantheon of Buddhist deities<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Which makes me wonder: Is this publicity stunt an insinuation that the First <\/a>Amendment<\/a> does not apply if you haven’t joined the God of Moses club? That you should go back to where you came from (never mind that you were Born In The USA<\/a>)? Or, as at least<\/a> one analyst thinks<\/a>, is this merely a concoction of the “American far-right and Putin… of some kind of pure white Christian state?” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heal Thyself<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the answer, one overarching problem is that some of the loudest voices are the least among us. I’m talking about<\/a> you, Paul Pressler<\/a> <\/a>(RIP). The list goes on<\/a>. Don’t get me started. The catalog is a long one. As the saying goes, “physician, heal thyself.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, Jesus said that. So did the Greek dramatist Aeschylus, some four centuries earlier. He’s the guy who wrote of the tragic Greek figure Prometheus. “Like an unskilled doctor, fallen ill,” Aeschylus wrote, “you lose heart and cannot discover by which remedies to cure your own disease.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My view, for what it’s worth, is that this is all about hypocrisy. Which, unfortunately, is not something that plastering the Ten all over the place can readily fix. Lying to ourselves is, after all, the most human of conditions. And for that, we need more mirrors, held up to our own faces. Plus, four fewer commandments. I mean, when you think about it, what kind of believer needs Four Commandments repeating the same basic message? Never mind. I already covered that one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the other six Commandments? Definitely worth keeping. Nothing against Moses, mind you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n

Copyright Leland E. Hale, 2024. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\"Leland<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Purchase Butcher, Baker<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

You can order my latest book, “What Happened In Craig<\/strong>,” HERE<\/strong><\/a> and HERE. <\/strong><\/a>True crime on Epicenter Press about Alaska\u2019s Worst Unsolved Mass Murder.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Craig\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four Too Many You have to give some of the Christians in our midst considerable credit. They bend, but don’t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,99,126,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-politics","category-religion","category-society"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Ten Commandments - Leland E. Hale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Ten Commandments are back in the news. I don't particularly mind them. 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