March 03, 2005

Ten Commandments

so i'm listening to npr this morning as i shuttle kids to/from school and they are talking about a current supreme court case which involves the state of texas having the ten commandments essentially posted in government buildings. the argument is whether they (the commandments) have both religious and secular significance and therefore should remain. if it is deemed to be soley religious, it presumably will have to be removed.

what i found particularly amusing is one of the speakers who was obviously in favor of having the commandments posted went on and on about how people didn't have to look at them. how them being there didn't make people do anything good or bad. and finally that clearly at least a significant number of texans support them being there.

the first thought that came to my mind was the bru-ha-ha years ago about a confederate flag being flown over the georgia (or south carolina) state capitol building. this same argument didn't hold water then, it will be interesting to see if it does so now. the conspiracy theorist in me notes that bush is still in office and he is from texas. if the supreme court lets them keep it, i shudder to think where the ten commandments and other religious documents will be tacked up next. the next battle, will be which version of the ten commandments will be supported by the governments.

which all brings me to another thought. reading the commandments can be quite amusing ya know. for example in #2 it is stated "for I the Lord thy G*d am a jealous G*d". Hmmm, if g*d is infallible, does that make jealousy a good thing? or does that make g*d not all good? i tend to link jealousy and envy together -- and envy is one of the seven deadly sins. well, since i am certainly fallible, i guess that could be a bad association.

then there is #3 " for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." and all i have to say is ... so much for forgiveness eh?

oh... i'll stop there. before i get myself into trouble.

Posted by ac at March 3, 2005 10:06 AM

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