Multiple Personalities on the Court
Don't get me wrong — I don't have a problem with the Ten Commandments. On the whole, they're a pretty good philosophy for everyday living. Except for the part where they say that the Judeo-Christian concept of god is the only legitmate god. And that sacred images are a Bad Thing. And that one should honor their parents regardless. (While a general respect of other people is a Good Thing, I have a problem with the idea that all elders should be revered when in fact quite a few of them are not deserving of such treatment. Ask Andrea Yates's kids.) And that the Sabbath day is to be kept. Or is that "don't swear"? It depends on which version of the Ten Commandments we're talking about.

Any way I look at it, the Ten Commandments are a religiously framed expression of a mostly good philosophy. And that has no place in government, not because what the commandments say, but because of the religious framework.

Sandra Day O'Connor summed it up well:

Justice O'Connor said the country had worked well, when compared with nations gripped by religious violence, by keeping religion "a matter for the individual conscience, not for the prosecutor or bureaucrat." She added: "Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?"

- posted by Lori @ 8:20:00 AM | permanent link | |