Government by religion? Hasn't someone tried that before?
Funny that the
National Review considers itself an intellectual publication, given it runs claptrap
like this, better suited for Newsmax:
Still the Only Solution to the World’s Problems:
The Decalogue is as relevant today as it was 3,000 years ago
There is only one solution to the world’s problems, only one prescription for producing a near-heaven on earth.
It is 3,000 years old.
And it is known as the Ten Commandments.
If you think the premise of that column is stupid, then you are correct.
1. I am the Lord your God
There are moral atheists, and there are immoral believers, but there is no chance for a good world based on atheism. Ultimately, a godless and religion-less society depends on people’s hearts to determine right from wrong, and that is a very weak foundation. Plenty of people have died in history in the name of God. But far more have been killed, tortured, and deprived of liberty in the name of humanity and progress or some other post-Judeo-Christian value.
Fucking scientists and their "progress"! But really, isn't that the heart of conservative ideology—that you can't trust people to do the right thing, you have to lord a set of laws over them, in the name of "freedom"?
2. Do not have other gods.
The worship of false gods leads to evil.
And by "false gods," he means anything that is not a Christian god. You can't have too much "freedom," you know?
3. Do not take God’s name in vain.
Incomprehensible. Something about Muslim murderers being worse than atheist murderers.
4. Keep the Sabbath day and make it holy.
Leaving the world one day a week and elevating it above the others is the greatest vehicle to family harmony and to harmony with friends. One day a week without video games, without parents leaving to go to work or to do their own thing on the computer forces parents and children to spend time together and to actually talk. It even encourages couples to make love. It also weakens the institution of slavery. If even your servants get a day off because God commands it, that means you do not have absolute control over them.
Ahh, this is what rich conservatives talk about amongst themselves—how that darn Ten Commandments forces them to give the hired help one day off a week.
5. Honor your father and mother.
Incomprehensible gibberish about how sending kids to college alienates them from their parents.
6. Do not murder.
If people lived by this commandment alone, the world would enter a heavenly state.
Uh oh. What about starting elective wars?
Westerners have been taught that pacifism is moral and noble. It is neither.
Phew. That was a close call.
7. Do not commit adultery.
Observance or even near-observance of this commandment alone would end the formation of the underclass. No amount of state aid can do what marriage and commitment to a spouse do to end poverty and almost all social pathologies.
There are no poor married people?
Rich people who commit adultery lose all their money and become poor?
8. Do not steal.
If people didn't steal, Africa would be a utopia. Or something. Bankers exempted (see #10 below).
9. Do not bear false witness.
The Holocaust happened because people lied. And we need to bomb Iran because they also lie. (Keep ignoring #6 above.)
But this is my favorite:
10. Do not covet your neighbor’s spouse, property, etc.
The cultivation of class warfare — i.e., the cultivation of coveting what richer citizens legitimately own — inevitably leads to violating the other commandments, most particularly the ones that prohibit stealing and murdering.
Everything that rich people own, they do so legitimately. Everything! Wait, don't look at the bankers. Or hedge fund managers. Or crony capitalists. Or trust fund babies. They didn't steal anything. And if they did, they did in manners exempted from #8. Because they're rich, and God loves rich people.
Just keep ignoring Matthew 19:23-24.