Ten Commandments basis for our laws
Published 12:00 am Thursday, June 30, 2005
The Supreme Court issued its opinion on Monday concerning two cases of the Ten Commandments and its placement in federal and state buildings. The court ruled the Commandments could be displayed outside the Texas' state capitol, but not in Kentucky courthouses.
In Texas, the Commandments are erected upon a six-foot granite monument and surrounded by 16 other displays the court ruled was a legitimate tribute to the United States' legal history and respect for other religions. However, the justices ruled that displaying the Commandments singularly with an express focus on their religious intonations, such as framed copies in Kentucky, amounted to a promotion of Christianity.
The court voted 5-4 on each case.
Monday's decision was the first since 1980 when the court ruled displays of the Ten Commandments in public school systems were unconstitutional.
"Of course, the Ten Commandments are religious -- they were so viewed at their inception and so remain. The monument therefore has religious significance," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for the majority in the Texas' case. "Simply having religious content or promoting a message consistent with a religious doctrine does not run afoul of the Establishment clause."
Justice John Paul Stevens, dissenting in the Texas' monument case, wrote, "the sole function of the monument on the grounds of Texas' State Capitol is to display the full text of one version of the Ten Commandments. The monument is not a work of art and does not refer to any event in the history of the state. The message transmitted by Texas' chosen display is quite plain: This state endorses the divine code of the Judeo-Christian God."
Which, Justice Stevens, is exactly what this country was founded on - the belief in that same Judeo-Christian God.
The framers of our constitution understood that Freedom of Religion was an important and inalienable right belonging to all men yet the majority believed in and recognized the teachings of the Holy Bible and Christianity as the foundations of a moral society. Church and state, not separate, but working together to guide the future of a fledgling nation in the days following the Revolutionary War. Monuments, such as the Ten Commandments, honor our founding fathers while also obligating man to love, honor, and obey his God, his family, and his fellow man. The Ten Commandments are the very basis for laws that govern and guide us in today's world.
How can removing these Commandments - from any venue - do any good?