I read that the state of Louisiana has required that the Ten Commandments be posted in all public schools, effective July 1, 2024. I can see nothing wrong with that requirement. I also read that some parents have objected to the Commandments being placed in schools. I did not read that the students will be required to study or even read the Commandments and, therefore, I do not see any constitutional issues regarding separation of church and state.
There is nothing wrong with posting the ancient principles that teach respect for God, for family and for others. Indeed, these truths offer a much better plan for life than the current national trend of ignoring God in favor of self and taking His Name in vain with every breath (as in OMG), disrespecting others and their property, and living in the darkness of "me first."
Indeed, the Commandments stand in stark contrast to the words of a Southern lieutenant governor who recently proclaimed "Some people need killing." Perhaps he should take time to read the Commandments, especially the Sixth One.
Tim McDonald
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The major problem is that you have to realize that there are more than Ten Commandments in the Bible. We tend to emphasize the commandments in Exodus 20, but Moses smashed them when he saw the Israelites worshipping the golden calf. It is necessary to read, carefully, the material in Exodus 20 to Exodus 34 because God told Moses that he would give him the ten that were on the first tablets. The problem is that the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34 are not the same as those in Exodus 20. The difference is radical. The third set is in Deuteronomy 5: 1-21. It is often thought to be a repeat of Exodus 20, but it is not, though it covers the same ground.
Aside from what most know the Ten Commandments (KJV), the Catholic Ten Commandments is a bit different and then, as The Tampa Times says, the Jewish Ten Commandments are different. Which one do you pick for statewide?
There are more than 200 Christian sects in the US and one set of Ten Commandments would not satisfy all of them. In addition to that, there are a myriad of other religions coming from other countries to the United States.
Raleigh Perry
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I believe it was the chief of staff who said that and not Lt. Governor Robinson.
But why not go all out nuclear? Don't stop at placing the Ten Commandments in all schools? Not that it would do much if any good anyway. It didn't do any good when they were allowed in the schools prior to 1980. Didn't stop the lynch mobs of an earlier era.
But if some are going to insist anyway, why not take the advice of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., "A Man Without A Country?" Who once said to the effect: “For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. 'Blessed are the merciful' in a courtroom? 'Blessed are the peacemakers' in the Pentagon?"
Brenda Washington
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Louisiana’s decision to post the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms raises several issues:
The Commandments were “generally absent” in sermons of the Founding Fathers’ generation and many judicial rulings as well.
As one scholar noted: “There is an absence in the historical record of any [emphasis added] evidence the Founders referenced the Ten Commandments when discussing justifications for republican government or the nation’s legal system.” Simply put, the Founders did not see the law as biblically based.
The first four Commandments collide with the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty and there are some differences between the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish texts. The Protestant Bible itself even has different versions (Exodus 20 v. Exodus 34).
In Stone v. Graham (1980), the Supreme Court ruled that posting the document in public schools violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. In addition, they stated that the document served “no secular legislative purpose” and was “plainly religious in nature.”
Posting the Ten Commandments in a public building secularizes the sacred. As the Baptist Roger Williams observed, it is good to keep “a hedge or wall between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world.”
Michael V. Woodward