How many of the 10 commandments are actually the basis for US law?

Question

10? 5? List them and let's count!

Stealing and killing are wrong in every religion and culture, so I guess we can't really say that those two commandments were needed for us to undrestand the morality of them. Adultry laws fail as soon as they are challenged constitutionally, so they really don't count. "false witness" means lying, which is not illegal, only fraud and perjury are.

I'm implying that our laws are based on universal moral principals as well as Enlightenment ideals (freedom, equality, democracy, etc), and NOT based on Christian doctrine.

Answer 1

None of them were the basis for US law--US law was largely based on English Common Law.

Which ones parallel the ten commandments? Only 3--murder, stealing, and bearing false witness (ie perjury).

And those 3 are present in every known legal code, "Christian" or not.

Answer 2

The only law in all of American history that can be traced to the Ten Commandments is a colonial law that is most blatantly un-Constitutional. (In Mass. the law stating that if anyone worshiped any god but the Lord God they would be put to death.)


For Christians, some or all (depending on your interpretation) of Mosaic law was overruled by Jesus. In the New Testament Jesus mentions commandments, but he never specifically mentions the Ten Commandments, and Jesus actually gives a different interpretation of the commandments.


Mark 12:

28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

These statements certainly seem to trivialize the importance of the Ten Commandments. Jesus himself doesn't even elaborate on or state all of the commandments. He says that you are to love God and your neighbor. The overall message makes sense. Why worry about specific commandments regarding murder, adultery, theft, etc, when the main point of all of them is "do unto others as you would have others do unto you". If you go by that rule then all the other commandments fall into place. Of course these guidelines cannot be called laws, they are just principles to live by.

Answer 3

Since when did basic moral standards need to be written into law? It is obvious to anyone that lying (perjury), stealing, murdering, commiting adultury, breach of contract, abusing your parents when they are elderly, and envy of other people are wrong. Maybe you don't have a conscience and these things don't seem wrong to you.

The only 2 that are not obvious morals are for Jews and Christians: Observe the Sabbath (A Holy Day of Rest) and have no other god's before me (which means not to put money, sex, or anything in your life before God),

What is your point? Are you impying that our nation's founders did not use basic morals to make decisions on what our laws should be? Hardly.

Answer 4

undergo in ideas The Sabbath Day and save IT Holy.....THE Sabbath Day became created Holy and continues to be Holy.... The 4th Commandment is written in stone with the different 9 and stands at the instant and continuously.... For what reason might a guy or woman forget approximately approximately The Sabbath different than to persist with a faux doctrine which will lead him removed from the actuality???

Answer 5

6-10

Answer 6

I would say they are more closely related to the Hammurabi's codified laws of Mesopotamia and Sumeria (1750 BCE.) The commandments not dealing with spirituality were probably taken directly from Hammurabi and used to fill in the Torah as they were extant and familiar to the Hebrews that were compling the history of their tribes.

Answer 7

Can you say 9 out of 10!

I have not seen Commandment 1
made into a Law by Man yet!

Answer 8

Stealing, murdering, lying to some extent, committing adultery, to some extent obeying your parents, to some extent the sabbath day (day of rest) in the idea that a person must receive a day off from work at least once a week.

Answer 9

Stealing, killing, and in some states, adultery, sometimes "bearing false witness", such as in court.

Four at best.

Answer 10

None of them.