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Commandments provoke anger
(by Dave Lange - November 23, 2011)
Commandments provoke anger
After reading a reflection on Scripture in a recent bulletin of a local church I attend on special occasions, I thought of Judge James DeWeese, of the Richland County Court of Common Pleas in Mansfield.
Judge DeWeese has been engulfed in a long legal battle with the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans for Separation of Church and State over his insistence on posting the Ten Commandments in the people's courtroom where he presides. Last February, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled unanimously that the display was unconstitutional, affirming other court rulings dating back to 2002. In October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review that decision.
That should settle the issue once and for all, but First Amendment deniers never are settled.
The church bulletin, referring to the Gospel of Matthew and Jesus Christ's exchange with the argumentative Pharisees, said, "His response might give some guidance today for discussions with those who get incensed about displaying the Ten Commandments."
Personally, I've never heard of the ACLU, Americans for the Separation of Church and State or anyone else getting incensed over fellow Americans displaying the Ten Commandments in their churches, on church grounds, in their homes or anywhere else on their own property.
But that's not good enough for people who want religion to be forced upon fellow Americans on public property and in public buildings, including courts that are supposed to treat everyone with fairness and equality.
Speaking of being incensed, here are a few of the posts in Current Affairs that greeted the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision:
"Well, file this one under blatant historic revisionism and Christophobic hypocrisy."
"No surprise the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans for Separation of Church and State, rejoices that our courts are packed with prodigal thought police who have conferred upon themselves a line-item veto for the Bill of Rights."
"Lynn is another self-appointed speech inspector who scampers about the country in an obsessive game of whack-a-mole -- swatting down each reference to our religious heritage as it inevitably emerges."
"The Sixth Circuit Court ... has once again twisted the First Amendment into a gag to stifle the freedom it was designed to safeguard."
"If three appellate court justices in Ohio would suppress Judge DeWeese's constitutional rights, they would also muzzle most of the men who actually signed the document, if given the opportunity."
Actually, of the Ten Commandments, only two -- "Thou shalt not kill" and "Thou shalt not steal" -- are embedded in the American justice system, as they are in virtually every society on Earth. A third one -- "Thou shalt not bear false witness" -- has a modicum of applicability in American courtrooms but none whatsoever in the current halls of Congress.
Other commandments refer to the supremacy of one God, prohibit idol worship, forbid use of the Lord's name in vain, require holy sabbaths, honor parents, disdain adultery and oppose coveting such things as neighbors' pension plans and health benefits. All of them are routinely ignored by too many Americans of every political and religious belief.
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