America's Code Of Slience (Chuck Norris: Its Time To Bring The Ten Commandments Back Alert)

Worldnetdaily.com ^ | 11/20/2006 | Chuck Norris

[goldstategop]

Don't Speak About Religion And Politics?

Over the past couple of years there has been much debate over the civil display of religious inscriptions, like the Ten Commandments (also called the Decalogue).

I was shocked to read this past week Bob Unruh's exclusives on WND about how the U.S. Supreme Court is even now silencing the truths about the Commandments in its own building.

People often say to stay clear of discussing religion and politics. True patriots don't do that. That is why I will address both in this article.

Revolutionary Thought about the Decalogue

I've learned some things recently about the Ten Commandments and the foundations of our country, excellently documented by David Barton and Wall Builders

Let me share just a few with you.

Noah Webster, the man personally responsible for Art. I, Sec. 8, paragraph 8, of the U. S. Constitution, explained two centuries ago: ''The duties of men are summarily comprised in the Ten Commandments, consisting of two tables; one comprehending the duties which we owe immediately to God – the other, the duties we owe to our fellow men.''

John Quincy Adams, who fought during the Revolution, served under four presidents before becoming one, and who was nominated (but declined) a position on the U. S. Supreme Court under President Madison, similarly declared: ''The law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code; it contained many statutes ... of universal application-laws essential to the existence of men in society, and most of which have been enacted by every nation which ever professed any code of laws.''

John Witherspoon, president of Princeton and signer of the Declaration, and one who served on over one hundred committees while in Congress, declared: ''The Ten Commandments .. are the sum of the moral law.''

The fact is our Founding Fathers introduced the tenets of the Ten Commandments not only into their families but into law, to promote civility and morality for everyone.

God's Law and the Law of the Land

Of course our founders were merely passing along the religious and moral baton, as the Colonialists handed it to them.

The proof of that is found in the fact that every early American Colony (all thirteen except Rhode Island under Roger Williams) incorporated the complete Decalogue into its own civil code of laws.

For example, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, established in 1638-39 as the first written constitution in America and considered the direct predecessor of the U. S. Constitution, stated that the governor and his council of six elected officials would ''have power to administer justice according to the laws here established; and for want thereof according to the rule of the word of God.''

Even in 1638, the Rhode Island government adopted ''all those perfect and most absolute laws of His, given us in His holy word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby. Exod. 24. 3, 4; 2 Chron. II. 3; 2 Kings. II. 17.''

The following year, in 1639, the New Haven Colony unanimously adopted its ''Fundamental Articles'' to govern that Colony as well with ''the Scriptures.''

From Pride to Silence

Historians, government officials, and even our courts used to proudly declare our country's relationship with the Ten Commandments.

As late as 1917, the Supreme Court of North Carolina declared:

Our laws are founded upon the Decalogue, not that every case can be exactly decided according to what is there enjoined, but we can never safely depart from this short, but great, declaration of moral principles, without founding the law upon the sand instead of upon the eternal rock of justice and equity.

In 1950, the Florida Supreme Court similarly made known:

A people unschooled about the sovereignty of God, the Ten Commandments, and the ethics of Jesus, could never have evolved the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. There is not one solitary fundamental principle of our democratic policy that did not stem directly from the basic moral concepts as embodied in the Decalogue ...

Unfortunately, America's once code of conduct has now turned into a code of silence!

The Ten Amendments?

It doesn't take a historian to figure out that the Ten Commandments and its law giver (Moses) played a very significant role in the moral and civil foundations of our nation.

Their influence was so profound that their imagery was indelibly displayed upon many civil structures and monuments, both state and federal.

Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin created a seal for the new United States, each separately proposing Moses and the Exodus prominently in the symbol.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Moses is the only one of twenty-three law givers facing with a full-frontal view, still staring down on the proceedings.

Even on the U.S. Supreme Court, there are six depictions of Moses and the Ten Commandments, though, as WND recently reported, tourists are now being told there is only one, and that the tablets etched with the Roman Numerals I-V and VI-X now depict the ''Ten Amendments'' or the Bill of Rights.

Such blatant educational oversight is one of the reasons I've joined with The National Council on Bible Curriculum to bring a state certified Bible course (elective) into the public schools nationwide. You can join us.

Follow Our Fathers

Friends, I am a patriot and an optimist at heart. I must admit, however, that recent attempts these past few years to suppress the truths about our country's heritage are raising even my blood pressure.

I believe the voices of our Fathers echo down through the generations in hope of helping us remedy the rampant degradation in our nation.

I, as with many of you, still believe we can remain a great country, but that will only be accomplished by rising up new generations of decent, law-abiding, people-loving, and God-fearing citizens.

And how can we create such a society?

I believe our Founding Fathers had the answer: by not being afraid to establish some common absolutes, a code of conduct, like the Ten Commandments.

[goldstategop]

We can't be a law-abiding and virtuous society for long without a knowledge of The Decalogue. Yet its that knowledge the Left is systematically erasing from our history, from our monuments and from our consciousness. That's why we need moral absolutes. Its a self-evident truth.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[Lurker]

What's the Code Of Slience?

Is that like the Cone of Slience?

L

[goldstategop]

Sorry.... I meant Silence! I wish FR gave us an edit button. I keep waiting for them to deliver that software upgrade.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[steve8714]

Code of Silence is the peak of Mr. Norris' film career, a truly entertaining cop movie; gritty, great casting, superb score, pacing like you never see. Rent it if you can find it on DVD. This is not to belittle any of his points, but to provide cultural reference for younger freepers.

[the invisib1e hand]

highlights the foolishness of that response in light of the thread.

Or maybe my coffee hasn't kicked in yet.

Anyway, great thread.

[Lurker]

I've been an admirer of Chucks for years. He's as quick with his head as he is with his feet.

I actually saw him fight once years ago before his movie career. He moved like nothing I'd ever seen.

Thanks for the thread. Mr. Norris makes some very, very good points.

L

[Mo1]

John Witherspoon, president of Princeton and signer of the Declaration, and one who served on over one hundred committees while in Congress, declared: ''The Ten Commandments .. are the sum of the moral law.''

I think the keyword would be "moral"

I use to think the reason some hated the Ten Commandments was because they hated God ... I'm now of the thinking it is more because they fear God ... and what might come in the after life when they have to answer for their deeds

Those that want to do away with the Ten Commandments, kind of remind me of a 2 or 3 year old that think that when they covers their eyes, no one can see them and what they are doing

[Tax-chick]

Thanks! I'll try the library.

[Nextrush]

Demoralization leads to anarchy and that's when the left steps in with their humanistic rules and goofy ideas,
(No pocket knives or aspirins in school, gun buyback programs, zero tolerance for bullies or hate).

The list is long I invite all to add in but let me say the basic laws as in the Ten Commandments are the ones we need with all the other ones (hate crimes, no smoking, trans fat bans, etc.) taking a hike.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

That 'democracy is the rule of fools by fools' shouldn't degenerate into an argument of men vs law but to the realization that conservatives are guided and taught by law and principle but not ruled by law. What is the last time you reconsidered an action because it was illegal? Or, do you obey the speed-limit because of law or good sense.

Either we are equal or we are not. Good people should be armed where they will, with wits and guns. KMA NRA

[Ragnorak]

I'm now of the thinking it is more because they fear God ... and what might come in the after life when they have to answer for their deeds

Do they fear God's judgement-- alone at night possibly, when faced with something like cancer or any of the countless reminders of how we are powerless, of how depite being like God we are definitively not God, almost certainly.

The real fear of God is not their own but yours. They fear your belief in God and how it will interfere with you believing in the supremacy of the State-- a State they control. If nothing is God's then all is rendered onto Caesar.

[armymarinemom]

My father in-law who lives in Memphis help distribute yard signs of the ten commandments. He himself has had two of the signs in his front yard. The first sign that he put up was stolen.

[Ragnorak]

I would just like to note how refreshing it is to see something from a celebrity that is actually cogent. Today, in 21st Century America, a Hollywood celebrity actually wrote a well researched, factually accurate, intelligent, thought provoking article.

[Mrs.Nooseman]

Awesome Article.
I couldn't agree more with Chuck.

[loboinok]

That was taken from Barton's "Affidavit in Support of the Ten Commandments" in SARAH DOE and THOMAS DOE v. HARLAN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT.

8. The Decalogue addresses what were long considered to be man’s vertical and horizontal duties. Noah Webster, the man personally responsible for Art. I, Sec. 8, ¶ 8, of the U. S.Constitution, explained two centuries ago:

The duties of men are summarily comprised in the Ten Commandments, consisting of two tables; one comprehending the duties which we owe immediately to God-the other, the duties we owe to our fellow men.

9. Modern critics, while conceding “six or five Commandments are moral and ethical rules governing behavior,” also point out that because the remaining “four of the Ten Commandments are specifically religious in nature,” that this fact alone should disqualify their display. They assert that only one of the two “tablets” of the Ten Commandments is appropriate for public display.

10. In an effort to substantiate this position historically, critics often point to the Rhode Island Colony under Roger Williams and its lack of civil laws on the first four commandments to “prove” that American society was traditionally governed without the first “tablet.” However, they fail to mention that the Rhode Island Colony was the only one of the thirteen colonies that did not have civil laws derived from the first four divine laws -the so-called first “tablet.” Significantly, every other early American colony incorporated the entire Decalogue into its own civil code of laws.

11. This affidavit will demonstrate that, historically speaking, neither courts nor civil officers were confused or distracted by the so-called “various versions” of the Decalogue and that each of the Ten Commandments became deeply embedded in both American law and jurisprudence. This affidavit will establish that a contemporary display of the Ten Commandments is the display of a legal and historical document that dramatically impacted American law and culture with a force similar only to that of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

THE INCORPORATION OF DIVINE LAW INTO AMERICAN COLONIAL LAW

12. The Ten Commandments are a smaller part of the larger body of divine law recognized and early incorporated into America’s civil documents. For example, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut-established in 1638-39 as the first written constitution in America and considered as the direct predecessor of the U. S. Constitution -declared that the Governor and his council of six elected officials would “have power to administer justice according to the laws here established; and for want thereof according to the rule of the word of God.”

13. Also in 1638, the Rhode Island government adopted “all those perfect and most absolute laws of His, given us in His holy word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby. Exod. 24. 3, 4; 2 Chron. II. 3; 2 Kings. II. 17.”

14. The following year, 1639, the New Haven Colony adopted its “Fundamental Articles” for the governance of that Colony, and when the question was placed before the colonists:

Whether the Scriptures do hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in all dut[ies] which they are to perform to God and men as well in the government of families and commonwealths as in matters of the church, this was assented unto by all, no man dissenting as was expressed by holding up of hands.

(Excerpted)

wallbuilders.com

Good post!

[Labyrinthos]

John Quincy Adams, who fought during the Revolution...

Chuck needs to study his history. JQA was only seven years old at the start of the Amercian Revolution and he spend most of the war in Europe with his father.

[Mrs.Nooseman]

Um,Chuck knows his history.He just confused the names of the Father and son.
He was talking about John Adams not his son John Quincy.

[M. Espinola]

[Labyrinthos]

Um,Chuck knows his history.He just confused the names of the Father and son. He was talking about John Adams not his son John Quincy.

John Adams didn't fight in the American Revolution either. He spend nearly the entire time in Europe as a diplomat. Also, John Adams obviously did not serve "under four presidents before becoming one," given the undisputed fact that he served as our second president. I like Chick Norris, but a historian he is not. I would also perfer if he left religion, including the teaching of the Ten Commandments, to family, friends, and Sunday school teachers, and not to the government at any level.

[Chewie84]

Chuck Norris is the man. I've been a 'Walker' fan for years. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I'll probably have to check out "Code of Silence" when I get the chance.