Ten Commandments

We are all probably familiar with the Ten Commandments of Exodus and Deuteronomy in the Bible. It is often claimed that they are instrumental to the development of our nation's set of laws. David Limbaugh wrote, "Much of our Bill of Rights is biblically based, as well, and the Ten Commandments and further laws set out in the book of Exodus form the basis of our Western law."

Are they? Are they really the basis of our modern law?

Here's the list as found in Exodus 20:3-17. This is the traditional Christian way of dividing it up, you might have learned it a little differently.

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

 For ease of discussion, let's shorten it up a bit.

1. One god
2. No idols
3. Don't misuse name of god
4. No work on holy Sabbath by anyone/anything
5. Honor parents
6. No murder
7. No screwin' around on your spouse
8. No theft
9. No perjury
10. Don't want other people's spouses and stuff

Can these be seen as the genesis of American law? I don't think there is a case.

First, there is the pesky First Amendment in the Bill of Rights which guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of religious involvement. So the first four commandments are impossible to rectify with the Constitution, and therefore American law. We permit all religions to peacefully coexist, we defend the artist's right to respectfully depict gods in their work even if it is offensive (the taboo against offending Muslims with representations of Allah is not in US law), we protect the right to even religiously offensive speech so long as it is not obscene or directly inciting violence, and even religious bookstores are open seven days a week.

There goes 40% of the case against the Ten Commandments influencing our laws.

I think it's a generally good idea to honor your parents. In the absolute worst case scenario, you must respect that if they had not met you would never have been born. In the best scenarios, they fed, taught, protected and nurtured you into an adult who still relies on their counsel often. I also think it's a generally good idea not to cheat on your spouse or to crave your neighbor's things. But nowhere in US law are these notions actually legislated.

There are some local laws against adultery and "deviant" sexual behavior, but these are being struck down on a regular basis because they are simply not supported by the Bill of Rights. And laws which require you to treat your parents with any more respect than other human beings or police your wants and desires would be seen as repugnant by thinking people, and cannot be supported by legal precedent in the US.

We are down to three remaining Commandments - the ones against murder, theft, and perjury. And these three are quite illegal in the US. So do we then have a 30% case for the Ten Commandments?

Not quite. The Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100-2050 BCE) is the oldest verifiable prohibition of murder, robbery and perjury. By contrast, the book of Exodus was not written much prior to 600 BCE. In other words, if I wrote something based on the Canterbury Tales, it would not be original work but a derivative - and the time between Ur-Nammu and the writer of Exodus is double the span of time between now and the 14th century.

Laws against murder, theft and perjury were not new in 600 BCE, they had been so for a millennia plus. Saying a work written in 600 BCE is the basis for our laws against stealing and killing and lying is like saying that the books by Emily Post are the reason we are polite to each other, or that Roe v Wade is the reason abortions started.

The facts are clear. 3 of these Commandments restate already established laws, and the other 7 just have no representation in American jurisprudence. Any argument that they form any basis for our system of laws, or the basis for any modern legal system, is simply baseless and wrong.

Posting these Commandments in a government building is not an homage to our laws and nation. It is a bald-faced homage to a deity, and that irksome First Amendment expressly forbids it. Remember than when you vote.