July 21, 2005

  • The Ten Commandments:

    Letters pro and con about the display of the Ten Commandments in public
    places have been published in our paper lately.  I haven't sent
    one in yet.  I wanted to give it some serious thought before I
    did.  Here's what I came up with and my current stance.  It
    boils down to one of my basic philosophies of life:  Give people
    what they ask for and more . . . they often find they don't really want
    it.

    Dear Editor,

    I’ve been giving a lot of consideration to the issue of the
    Ten Commandments being placed in and around courthouses and I’ve come to the
    decision that I really don’t care.  I
    don’t care if so many statues and monuments get placed on the court house lawn
    that it looks like the display lot of a yard ornament company; including lawn
    jockeys.  You see, I’m not a lawyer or a
    judge and I don’t break laws so I don’t go to court.  And if it gets visibly tacky from the road I
    can always avert my eyes.   So I don’t
    care. I can’t see what either side hopes to accomplish by this struggle.  But it does seem to me that the energies on
    both sides of the argument could be better spent on things that really do
    matter.

    If evangelical Christians and other proponents think having
    a monument of the Ten Commandments on a courthouse or statehouse lawn will
    convert one person running into the building to pay a traffic ticket or cause one
    crooked politician to mend his ways, they are sadly mistaken.  Not one soul will be saved or the suffering
    of one human being eased by this.

    People should be careful what they wish for because they
    often get it.  If monuments of the Ten
    Commandments are allowed in these areas then similar things from other
    religions will certainly be allowed.  For
    while allowing a Christian symbol in these instances (in my opinion) does not
    establish a national religion, allowing Christian symbols but disallowing those
    of other faiths is certainly evidence of establishing a national religion.   There will undoubtedly be a fat Buddha and
    monuments with words from Hindu Holy texts on each side of the Ten Commandments.  It seems to me this would dilute the hoped
    for impact of the display of the Ten Commandments, but that’s just me.  And remember, I don’t care.

    In a way, I think allowing the display of the Ten
    Commandments would be a good thing because then we’ll see if the proponents of
    this are really just pursuing their right of free speech or if they’re really
    trying to establish on official religion. 
    If they accept the presence of a monument with quotations from the
    Supreme Personality of the Godhead  Shri Gauranga
    (the Hare Krishna faith) to sit beside their monument on the courthouse lawn,
    and compete for attention, then the country will see that their motivations are
    true.  If not, the country will see
    otherwise.

    For the above reasons I don’t understand why this fight is
    worth so much effort for those opposed to the display of the Ten Commandments,
    Buddha statues, the Star of David, etc in these locations.  No one will be harmed, but many will be
    enlightened.

Comments (8)

  • Exactly! From where I sit in my office, I can see one of the 10 Commandments monumnets placed by the Eagles. It sits there on the courthouse lawn, under a beautiful tree. Most days, I look at the tree and ignore the monument. It is about 5' high by 3' wide, I'd guess, although I've never stopped to measure it.

    I am not of any of the Christian faiths, and yet this monument doesn't bother me. Nor does it inspire me. It just IS. Yes, I'd like to see a statue of the Goddess there next to it, but I'd be willing to bet that small town Idaho would have apoplexy if I suggested it.

    Really, there are so many larger issues to worry about. As long as no one is forcing me to go to their church nor prosecuting me for my religion (or lack thereof), well then, that's all ok with me.

  • Well said! I don't think that many of these "Christians" understand the consequences of allowing religious statues or monuments -- allow one you must allow all.

  • Very well said. Not that any fanatics are going to listen to your argument *sigh*. It is so nice to read  that there are still sane people in this country....

  • Sadly, so many of the Religious Reich in this country point to these small "expressions" of faith within our government as "proof" that this was meant to be a Christian nation and thus we should allow their faith fully into our government.  Unfortunately, fighting these issues can have even more serious consequences.  See the animation in my most recent blog entry for a good illustration of that.

  • Unless the "Ten Commandments" were displayed as they might appear "Old Testament-style" - a series of Hebrew numbers, they are a religious document, because, surely the ones installed by the Eagles are a Protestant 10, not a Catholic 10, or a Jewish 10. And yes, since religious symbols are allowed, we all need to contribute toward putting a huge Buddah, a giant Shiva, and my personal favorite, a 12 foot tall Pentagram for the Texas Statehouse lawn. It will be enlightening indeed.

  • HELL YEAH! Honestly I don't know why no one has ever thought of that before. I think it has something to do with the christian religion intimidates people, go against it and not only are you going to hell, but you are also a non patriot aka a traitor.

  • In tonight's paper there was an article about our good friend Freddy P who is protesting the erection of a Ten Commandments monument in a neighboring town. He wants to put up a monument that says "America is Doomed" alongside it. His monument would be a 6 x 4 foot slab of pink (naturally) granite, inscribed with a sketch of two men engaged in a sexual act, along with two Bible verses. Please...

  • Yerah--preferably as a cadaver!

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