My message to the American Family Association

The American Family Association sent me an e-mail in which they invited me to sign an online petition supporting making display of the Ten Commandments legal in all places.

I didn't sign it, but I sent them this:

I received a message asking that we sign some sort of petition making display of the Ten Commandments legal in all places.

Which version of the Ten Commandments would that be? The one in Exodus 20, the one in Exodus 34 (God made two sets of tablets--the second replaced the first because Moses smashed the first because Aaron's people were worshiping the Golden Calf, but the tablets in Exodus 34 are different from the ones in Exodus 20), the Protestant Commandments, the Catholic Commandments, the Jewish Commandments, the condensed Protestant commandments that appear on most of the Ten Commandments signs in my town--the Second Commandment is a long paragraph, but on the signs it just says "Thou shalt not make any graven image"...

You know Matthew 6:5-6, correct?

When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

http://www.apatheticagnostic.com/articles/reflections/commandments/versions.html

something they seem to pass over in their mad attempt to theocratize the USA.....

As in the original post, the Ten Commandments versions I can find include:

1. The original ten as enumerated in Exodus 20; the tablets bearing these were smashed by Moses during the Golden Calf incident and God promised to make a new set containing all of the words on the original tablets.

2. The "new ten" in Exodus 34. These are WAY different from the ones in Exodus 20, and the BTs tend not to display them. Herewith:

Commandment 1: Thou shalt worship no other god
Commandment 2: Thou shalt make no molten gods
Commandment 3: The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep in the month when the ear is on the corn
Commandment 4: All the first-born are mine
Commandment 5: Six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh thou shall rest
Commandment 6: Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even of the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end
Commandment 7: Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread
Commandment 8: The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning
Commandment 9: The first of the first fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God
Commandment 10: Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk

3. The Ten Commandments as worshipped by the Protestant denominations

4. The Ten Commandments as worshipped by the Catholics

5. The Ten Commandments as worshipped by the Jews

There is also a Reader's Digest Condensed Version of the Commandments that appears on signs; this version leaves out most of the text. The RDCV second commandment leaves out the part about God finding all of the people making graven images like...uhh, signs with the Ten Commandments on them...or worshipping graven images like...uhh, signs with the Ten Commandments on them...and whacking their great-grandkids for it.

Y'know, the BTs are going to be really unhappy when they get to the Pearly Gates and St. Peter looks in the Book of Life, sees "guilty of violating the Second Commandment; had statue of Jesus in upturned bathtub on the front lawn...guilty of violating Matthew 6:5-6; drove car bearing so many Scriptural-passage bumper stickers you couldn't tell what color it was" next to their name, and issues them a steerage-class ticket for the Hell Express.

worship only one god? I dont think so...that goes against the very core of the First Amendment, which allows for people to worship any number of gods or goddesses they choose..and telling people they can only worship on sabbath? again, a direct violation of all citizenry's First amendment rights.
same thing with honouring fathers and mothers...again, goes against the very core of freedom to choose. There are plenty of really lousy parents out there .
All in all, these people who want to post the Ten Cs havent done any research on any of this.

Name the right enumerated in the first ten amendments to the Constitution and I guarantee the fundies hate it. Especially the rights granted by the Second Amendment: when Wildmon's people come to take you to church whether you want to go or not, your having a gun might get in the way of that.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Saducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Of course, I'm not sure that AFA and its ilk give much credence to Jesus' words, fixated as they are on the Big 10 and what it seems to represent to them. Your response was very good, but the reference to Jesus' words is so pointed I have a feeling the AFAers won't get it, either. The last thing they see themselves as is hypocrital and a bunch of Pharisees, especially now that they are in the "catbird seat". If I get that online petition, I'll use your response about the commandments. Would be interested to know if you get any sort of response to your e-mail. I'm guessing not...

are actually illegal, murder and thievery (with the exception of adultery which is still illegal in some states but is NEVER prosecuted)

Everyone should read George Carlin's bit about the Ten Commandments where he reduces the ten down to two.
He throws out the first 3 (No gods before me, taking gods name in vain and keeping the sabbath holy) because as he says they contain "Spooky language designed to scare and control primitive people. In no way does superstitious mumbo jumbo like this apply to the lives of intelligent, civilized humans in the 21st century."

This move towards sectarianism in public life is little more than a way of reinforcing the christian mindset in a generational way. It is right up there with trying to teach creationism (or "intelligent design" which is simply a bullshit term designed to disguise an agenda) in schools. If you raise scientifically illiterate children they tend to lack critical thinking skills as well as remaining gullible. This is necessary for the furtherance of religion worldwide. Why do you think the church for centuries and the present day Imams of Islam are/were so dead set against investigating the historical veracity of the Bible and the Koran? Because if people learned the real truth it would require those "Religious Leaders" to find productive employment and fooling the people is actually pretty easy and pays pretty damned good.

There is a reason why congregations are referred to as ruminants. Sheep are easily led and are notoriously stupid.

The Ninth (Protestant and Jewish)/Eighth (Catholic) commandment reads "thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." Don't lie, in other words.

Sometimes this is a crime, sometimes it's not.

"This cigarette tastes great" even when smokers don't like it--legal lie
"This cigarette won't give you cancer"--illegal lie

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman"--illegal lie, even though technically it wasn't a lie at all; in the District of Columbia, "sexual relations" means intercourse, and there was no intercourse
"Saddam Hussein has a million pounds of sarin and so we must invade Iraq immediately"--legal lie

"Your Honor, I didn't do it" when you definitely did--legal lie
"Your Honor, I was in Detroit on January 29" when you were really in Tucson shooting people--illegal lie