Posted on 09/05/2003 1:45:10 PM PDT by G. Stolyarov II
In all the discussion about displaying the Ten Commandments in the Alabama courthouse, has anyone asked the fundamental question: what are the Ten Commandments? What is their philosophic meaning and what kind of society do they imply? Religious conservatives claim that the Ten Commandments supplied the moral grounding for the establishment of America. But is that even possible? Let's put aside the historical question of what sources the Founding Fathers, mostly Deists, drew upon. The deeper question is: can a nation of freedom, individualism and the pursuit of happiness be based on the Ten Commandments? Let's look at the commandments. The wording differs among the Catholic, Protestant and Hebrew versions, but the content is the same. The first commandment is: "I am the Lord thy God." As first, it is the fundamental. Its point is the assertion that the individual is not an independent being with a right to live his own life but the vassal of an invisible Lord. It says, in effect, "I own you; you must obey me." Could America be based on this? Is such a servile idea even consistent with what America represents: the land of the free, independent, sovereign individual who exists for his own sake? The question is rhetorical. The second commandment is an elaboration of the above, with material about not serving any other god and not worshipping "graven images" (idols). The Hebrew and Protestant versions threaten heretics with reprisals against their descendants—inherited sin—"visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation . . ." This primitive conception of law and morality flatly contradicts American values. Inherited guilt is an impossible and degrading concept. How can you be guilty for something you didn't do? In philosophic terms, it represents the doctrine of determinism, the idea that your choices count for nothing, that factors beyond your control govern your "destiny." This is the denial of free will and therefore of self-responsibility. The nation of the self-made man cannot be squared with the ugly notion that you are to be punished for the "sin" of your great-grandfather. The numbering differs among the various versions, but the next two or three commandments proscribe taking the Lord's name "in vain" and spending a special day, the Sabbath, in propitiating Him. In sum, the first set of commandments orders you to bow, fawn, grovel and obey. This is impossible to reconcile with the American concept of a self-reliant, self-owning individual. The middle commandment, "Honor thy father and mother," is manifestly unjust. Justice demands that you honor those who deserve honor, who have earned it by their choices and actions. Your particular father and mother may or may not deserve your honor—that is for you to judge on the basis of how they have treated you and of a rational evaluation of their moral character. To demand that Stalin's daughter honor Stalin is not only obscene, but also demonstrates the demand for mindlessness implicit in the first set of commandments. You are commanded not to think or judge, but to jettison your reason and simply obey. The second set of commandments is unobjectionable but is common to virtually every organized society—the commandments against murder, theft, perjury and the like. But what is objectionable is the notion that there is no rational, earthly basis for refraining from criminal behavior, that it is only the not-to-be-questioned decree of a supernatural Punisher that makes acts like theft and murder wrong. The basic philosophy of the Ten Commandments is the polar opposite of the philosophy underlying the American ideal of a free society. Freedom requires: — a metaphysics of the natural, not the supernatural; of free will, not determinism; of the primary reality of the individual, not the tribe or the family; — an epistemology of individual thought, applying strict logic, based on individual perception of reality, not obedience and dogma; — an ethics of rational self-interest, to achieve chosen values, for the purpose of individual happiness on this earth, not fearful, dutiful appeasement of "a jealous God" who issues "commandments." Rather than the Ten Commandments, the actual grounding for American values is that captured by Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged: "If I were to speak your kind of language, I would say that man's only moral commandment is: Thou shalt think. But a 'moral commandment' is a contradiction in terms. The moral is the chosen, not the forced; the understood, not the obeyed. The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no commandments."
To assert that a phrase used one time in private correspondence should determine our national policy is stretching it.
A resolution calling for a national day of Prayer:
RESOLVED, That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, that many signal favors of almighty God, especially by affording them the opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness.
US Congress, 25 Sep 1789
Well, since the SCOTUS has deemed it perfectly proper to cite the private correspondence of a POTUS to a Baptist minister in Danbury, CT as legal precedent, there is a simple solution to the matter.
President Bush can simply write a letter to a current Baptist minister in Danbury, Ct letting him know that displaying the Ten Commandments, praying before football games, voluntary rectitation of the Pledge with the words "under God" and voluntary prayer in public institutions are indeed Constitutional.
Voila!
ALRIGHT! PIZZA'S HERE! Sausage, extra cheese and mushrooms (for the wife) Gotta go.
Regarding religion, the First Amendment was intended to accomplish three purposes. First, it was intended to prevent the establishment of a national church or religion, or the giving of any religious sect or denomination a preferred status. Second, it was designed to safeguard the right of freedom of conscience in religious beliefs against invasion solely by the national Government. Third, it was so constructed in order to allow the States, unimpeded, to deal with religious establishments and aid to religious institutions as they saw fit.
I don't know why an invisible country (you can't find "America" on a map) would have trouble serving an "invisible Lord".
These historical points are interesting, but the overall point -- and one of the key points of the original article -- is that separation of church and state is essential to a free society. Jefferson and Madison were absolutely correct on this point. We have the benefit of more than 5,000 years of human history to illustrate the consequences of people who try to impose their particular religion on the rest of us. We saw it in spades during the Dark and Middle Ages, the heyday of religious rule. We see it today in places like Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as in the Islamofascist terrorist movement. In sum, theocracy and religious fanaticism, in all of their forms, is hazardous to human life and well-being.
The Bill of Rights hadn't yet been ratified and therefore were not yet the law of the land. Nice try. :)
The founding fathers knew that, which is why they were always respectful of the God of the Bible, even though they were deists. They knew that if they didn't make it appear they had God on their side, they wouldn't have Christians on their side. And today, that means they wouldn't have anybody at all.
Something for you secular humanists to consider, when the US government collapses and the government jobs you guys always hold go unfunded.
"CONGRESS shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
The phrase that governs all the rest of the sentence is " Congress shall make no law..." It is addressed to no other branch of government. Even if we make a giant leap to the view that the First Amendment was made applicable to the states by the 14th Amendment, it is still not clear what application could be made of it.
The 14th Amendment provides that " The CONGRESS shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." But how can Congress legislate about matters concerning which the governing phrase is, CONGRESS shall make no law? The obvious answer is that it can't.
That aside and even supposing the the 14th made the First applicable to the states, there was NO grant of power to the Federal courts to lay down rules as to what constituted an establishment of religion, what states governments might authorize regarding religion, how local governments might celebrate religious occasions etc. No such powers are granted to any branch of the federal government, including Congress, by the First Amendment.
For nearly 70 years after the adoption of the 14th Amendment, the courts and and just about everybody else believed the First Amendment meant what it said, no more no less.It was not until the 1930's and 40's that the federal judiciary started to stick it's nose under the tent of state authority in the matter of religion and morals.
The fed courts have hijacked a power not enumerated to them in the Constitution
So, those who crafted the 1st Amendment immediately disregarded it and had a "let's proclaim a national day of prayer and acknowledge God before this monster we have created comes into effect and we will no longer be allowed to" attitude?
I think not.
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