The myth of the Ten Commandments - Editorial

(Another old Belgrade News editorial from October 27, 2006)

The Ten Commandments are in the local news again, with Bozeman city leaders stating their discomfort in returning the stone monument to the Soroptimist park.

While their discomfort may be more accurately stated as fear — that is, the fear that tolerating the Ten Commandments will bring about a lawsuit from the “tolerant” ones who hate religious expression — perhaps it would be better to focus on what all the conflict is really about.

There is a group of people in this country who believe that religious expression ought to be a solely private matter. That is, they want no public religious expression. Public expression of religious behavior is “offensive” and “coercive.” In their view, religious expression on government property is establishing religion, and religious people (in particular, Christians) are fundamentalist bigots trying to impose their views on others.

At least these are the stated reasons, but one might justifiably wonder if there is an underlying reason for their attempts to relegate religious expression to the back of the free speech bus. Perhaps it is an effort to sanitze society of all positive religious influences, or maybe it’s just a general hatred of God.

(Oh, and by the way, why is the weight of the Soroptimist monument relevant? When Judge Roy Moore was fighting the removal of the monument he installed, why was it always noted how much it weighed?)

Well, anyway, it might be worth our time to explore the issues of the First Amendment.

• “Congress shall...” Congress is not involved here. Since placing the monument is not an act of Congress, it does not violate the First Amendment.

• “...make no law...” Congress is not making a law. In fact, no government body is making a law requiring the placement of the monument. A “law,” by definition, is a codified action of government to command, prohibit, or permit a specific action.

• “...establishment of religion...” If placing the monument is the establishment of religion, then which religion? Christianity? Islam? Judaism? LDS? Jehovah’s Witnesses? All these religions value the Ten Commandments. What religion is being established by an act of government? What state-sanctioned religion is being prevented?

• “...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” The First Amendment separates government from influencing religion, not the other way around. The Constitution is a document that defines and limits government. The First Amendment speaks to government about what it cannot do. There are no statements regarding the granting rights duties to citizens, or restricting their expressions.

If government takes action to forbid the monument, that is an action based on a religious preferences and violates the First Amendment. Government is commanded to take no action in religious matters.

In his letter to American military officers written in 1798, President John Adams said, “The Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the governance of any other.” Values are necessary for the functioning of any society, and all values have a basis of religious understanding, whether pro religion or anti religion. If certain values are not consciously adopted and publicly acknowledged, other values will fill in the vacuum. Values are always in conflict, and government always favors some values over others. 

Everyone has religious ideas, some are pro religion, some are anti religion. Therefore, limiting religious expressions is a religious position. Thus, our laws can either be based on the religious values or on a non-theistic value foundation. There is no alternative. Therefore, if public acknowledgement of one value amounts to “establishment of religion,” so is its opposite value.

Laws restrain the outer man, but if the inner man is not restrained, no law can stop a person from being a law breaker. Our moral foundation is gradually being chipped away. The basis of this erosion is a faulty view of the First Amendment.

Let’s restore the moral law of the Ten Commandments back to its position of value and reverence, both personally and in government.