Oh, Texas, what have you done? With the passage of a bill in the Texas legislature requiring every public-school classroom in the state to prominently display the 10 commandments, the debate about religion’s place in American society is once again the topic of conversation…and it’s been on this mad pastor’s brain since I first heard about it last week. I was taught in seminary not to do anything that might be controversial in the church you’re serving and I lived by that motto for a long time…too long, in fact. I have a voice. I have opinions. In the face of the world as it is right now, I believe people of faith have a responsibility to speak up. So, “Damn the controversy! Full steam ahead!”
Let me begin by saying, the views in any of my blogs are mine alone and do not necessarily represent FPC as a whole. With that out of the way, I have nothing against the 10 commandments. They were taught to me as a child and I, in turn, taught them to my kids. I believe they are important. But in no way, shape, or form should they be displayed in a public-school or any other state or federal institution. We are not a Christian nation. We have never been a Christian nation. And now is not the time to blur the lines between church and state.
Aside from the whole separation of church and state argument, displaying the 10 commandments is a form of Christian appropriation and a Christian nationalism that is the exact opposite of the founding fathers’ intention for this nation; it’s force-feeding Christian beliefs, when the United States was founded on religious freedom for all faiths. No one religion should be elevated above the rest…but I digress.
We first encounter the 10 commandments in Exodus as part of the law given by God to Moses to guide how the people of Israel lived following their escape from Egypt. These laws (and the 600 others they received from God) were meant to bring order to this new society and guide Israel’s corporate life during the 40 years they wandered in the wilderness.
There are actually 3 forms of the 10 commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures, so which one will be used…the most familiar, Exodus 20.1-17, or Deuteronomy 5.6-21 (there are differences between the two)? Or what about Leviticus 19.2-35? You’ll find the 10 commandments there, but they aren’t together and there are a bunch more added in between? Do those count, too? And which translation will be used…the KJV or RSV or NRSV or NKJV or NIV or CEV or…(the list could go on and on)?
I think what frustrates me the most, though, is that it’s Christians who are advocating for this display, but the 10 commandments weren’t given to Christians. They are part of the Hebrew Scriptures. They were given to the Israelites,…God’s chosen people. To think they were given to Christians is a way of appropriating a part of the Hebrew tradition as if it were our own…and it’s not! We were given a different set of commandments.
In Mark, the first of the gospels to be written, Jesus is asked a question: “Which commandment is the first of all?” And Jesus responds, “The first is Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk 12.31). A version of this story is also found in Matthew 22.34-40 and Luke 10.25-28 and in each one, Jesus takes all the commandments and boils them down into 2 for his followers: Love God and love your neighbors yourself. That’s it! Love. If you want to put something on your wall as a reminder, that’s it…LOVE.
There’s another bill coming up for vote in Texas that would require public schools to provide students and staff time for prayer and Bible study during the school day. And I just heard of another that would replace school counselors with chaplains. It seems the floodgates have opened, and the debates are beginning. Oh, Texas, what have you done?!!