Why should we allow the 10 Commandments to be posted in American Judicial buildings?

Question

Should we and why?

Answer 1

I'm a Christian. I know that doesn't mean much, but I try my hardest to honor and love the Lord.
I'm also an American who believes the Constitution of the United States.

Here's my take:
We should not allow the 10 Commandments to be posted in Government buildings. It violates the Bill of Rights, specifically the establishment clause in the First Amendment. Just like the Second Amendment should not be violated, the First Amendment should not be violated. The Decalogue are holy laws and moral laws if you're Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. The judicial branch of the government, like the Constitution, must (I repeat MUST) remain secular.

Here is the text of the 10 Commandments:

1. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

3. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ***, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

My take is that there are only 3 of the Holy Commandments that are enforcable: 6, 8 and 9. The rest are moral laws and would never be prosecuted in a United States court. If they were, the United States would look more like Afghanistan under the Taliban. Thankfully, we have the Constitution to make sure that never happens. Besides killing, stealing and lying, the rest of the Laws are moral laws that, if prosecuted and found guilty, would be deemed unconstitutional.

Placing the 10 Commandments in a U.S. Court building, which should be secular, should never happen because it puts one (or, I guess, three) religions above the people.

Whatever you believe, the Constitution is there to protect us.

I, personally, live by the 10 Commandments, because that's what my Lord wants, and I could never repay the debt. But that doesn't mean that we all have to.

Answer 2

I am not a religious person, yet I find that the 10 commandments are a simple outline of morality for all humankind, religious or not. So to answer your question...YES. The posting would create a simple reminder to all people of the rights and wrongs of morality. And if you are walking into a judicial building (usually for breaking the law) it posts a slight reminder of all the points of making a society productive.

Answer 3

First and foremost our forefathers were Christian when they designed the American country we know. While not everyone shares the same belief structure the 10 Commandments are an edict that surpases any border. Simplistic in design they can fit into ANY culture. Read them sometime. They don't carry weight of any one religion or though pattern. Any decent human already follows them. For society to be a good society, you already follow them. IN addition it is the earliest known rule structure for which Man was governed. IN essence it is the 1st Judicial system.

Answer 4

It would be nice to see people read the rules, even though we do not all live by them all the time---the Ten Commandments are an excellent set of guidelines to follow and give no one (who can read) to truthfully say they didn't know better.

I support the Ten Commandments and am a Christian I believe they should be posted in all judicial buildings.

God Bless

Answer 5

If American law is based upon the 10 commandments, why aren't adulterers arrested? Why aren't we given freedom of religion when "thou shalt have no other gods before me"? Why aren't we forced to take a day of rest (sabbath)? How about coveting our neighbor's belongings? Isn't basic American economic theory based upon keeping up with the Jones's next door?

The 10 commandments aren't law. Laws are based upon common sense. You don't need God to tell you that a society does poorly when people are stealing and murdering one another. You don't need heaven and hell to tell you it sucks to be cheated on by a loved one. Some founding fathers were christian, but some weren't, and even with those that were, just because they follow a religion doesn't mean that they wanted a government based around it.

Tear down those commandments!

Answer 6

Nope.

There is a fundamental principle called separation of church and state. Some citizens, whose rights our government is equally responsible for protecting, are not Jewish or Christian.

Therefore, these tenets of the Judaeo-Christian faith play no part in the secular realm of the judicial system. Keep them out for the good of all.

Now, enacting and enforcing laws based on these (universal) tenets is fine, as long as the appropriate voting and legal rules have been followed.

Answer 7

Not unless we want to be more like Iran.

This is a democracy, not a theocracy! And to those who claim our laws are "biblically based", why is there no law against eating pork? Or eating shrimp? And how can divorce be legal? And according to Romans 13:8 ("Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.") DEBT itself would be illegal!

The 10 Commandments include 2 (don't murder, don't steal) that make sense. The others are nonsense and have no place in our system of Laws!

Answer 8

nicely, technically, adultery continues to be unlawful, even besides the undeniable fact that that is totally hardly prosecuted. As for the different 3, nicely that would take us straight away into the darkish a lengthy time period, now does no longer it? also, on condition that there will be no purpose way of verifying even if someone became "coveting" something, it would have the extra bonus (for the ennemies of the enlightenment) to allow for accusations in protecting with no different info than what a prosecuter believes became happening contained in the accused's ideas. It therefore paves the line fairly nicely for the idea of thoughtcrime in our felony equipment.

Answer 9

Yes. From a historical perspective, it is one of the earliest examples of guiding principles of law on how humans should live. Really that is what law is, it is defining the rules for how we should live. Whether you are spiritual or not, you have to admit the 10 Commandments have played a pivotal role in the formation of laws throughout history.

Answer 10

because it is a good guideline to follow...

The Ten Commandments does not establish a religion...

And if you are going to state the 1st ammendment about Church and State lets get it right....

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It clearly states that the government shall make no law establishing a religion.. it does not say that the government can not display religious documents......