I am a rather devout Christian, but a member of the clearly evil and gay-loving Episcopal Church. (We call ourselves the Church for Thinking People.) I very nearly went back to school for a master's degree in religious studies, and also very nearly went to seminary to become an Episcopal priest. Life (and the Lord) work in mysterious ways, so my path might yet take me there, but for now I'm content as a writer and journalist.
All that said, I find the debate over public display of the Ten Commandments infuriating. First, it seems blatantly obvious that displaying any passage of any sacred text in a court room or state building so clearly violates the First Ammendment that there shouldn't be a debate. But second, I find Christians' clinging to the Ten Commandments theologically troubling. More (including quotes and amateur commentary) below the fold.
Funny thing about the Ten Commandments is that they appear in the Jewish scripture. Yet it's fundamentalist "Christians" who want them in courtrooms and whatnots. It seems to me that a CHRISTian ought to be more concerned about the teachings and sayings of CHRIST. Who, as it turns out, had little or no regard for the 10 Commandments.
Here's how JC himself viewed them (all quotes from New American Standard Bible; commentary that of a well-informed amateur, me):
One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, " `YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, `YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
-Matthew 22:35-40
The same story appears in Mark, which tends to confirm its veracity:
One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?" Jesus answered, "The foremost is, `HEAR, O ISRAEL ! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' "The second is this, `YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these." The scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.
Of particular note is that the lawyer/scribe was presumably asking which of the ten was most important. But Jesus pulls out two that aren't even in the original ten. In both depictions of this instance, Jesus effectively instructs us to disregard not only the Ten Commandments given to Moses, but pretty much all of the Old Testament, relegating it from its place as the basis of The Law to an interesting history of the Jewish roots of the new religion he would found. This is particulary plain in Mark's version of events, when Jesus affirms the scribe's comment that the two new commandments are "much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices," one of the most important tenets of early Judaism. Thus, loving God and loving one's neighbor are more important than following even the most basic proscriptions of the Old Testament.
As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. "You know the commandments, `DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.' " And he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. - Mark 10: 17-22
Here again Jesus dismisses the importance of the Ten Commandments. While they provide a good set of guidelines for living properly, they're not enough. You have to put your money where your mouth is, or, better yet, put your money where the mouths of the poor are. Therefore, in public policy terms, it is in direct opposition of the teachings of Christ to defend the Ten Commandments while at the same time cutting programs which benefit the poor and allowing the rich to become richer through tax cuts. Collecting taxes from the rich to benefit the poor would seem much more suited to the message of Jesus. (A few verses later comes the quote, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." - Mark 10:25) One wonders how many of Bush's cronies - and how many Republicans in general, for that matter - would go away grieving, because they own much property.
While this might seem like the rant of a guy who paid a little too much attention in Sunday School, it gets beyond the separation of church and state argument. While that argument ought to be enough to keep the Ten Commandments out of public spaces, it is an equally (or, in my mind more) compelling argument that a true Christian wouldn't want them there in the first place.
Maybe I should write a book called Jesus is a Democrat or something.