Today the United States House of Representatives approved a boneheaded amendment to a juvenile justice law that would display the 10 commandments in government buildings. Is "boneheaded" too strong a word? No, not strong enough, but the most polite word I could use here for this blatant pandering to a group of campaign donors at the expense of our republic.
The first reason this is boneheaded is that it seeks to correct a serious problem in a foolhardy way. The reason for this fervor on juvenile justice is the recent massacre of High School students in Columbine, Colorado. The House was supposed to be addressing the availability of guns to children, felons and the insane, but instead, they decided that we could magically prevent violence if we posted this religious incantation in public buildings. I guess their rationale was, if a killer planned for months to execute his tormentors but walked into a school that displayed these magic words, he would instantly see the error of his ways, fall to his knees and beg forgiveness. (uh, yeah, right.)
Even the panderers who backed this law don't believe that the ten commandments have this sort of power. When pressed, they admitted that even though they have displayed them in their offices for many years, no one has ever been kneeled by their "power." Well, actually, they were trying to head-off criticism for this boneheaded vote by assuring people smart enough to think that the commandments in government buildings aren't a threat.
But that brings us to problem two. Which version, or should I say, who's version will be displayed? Will it be the Jewish version? (Moses supposedly brought the 15, er 10, 10 commandments to the jews long before english or christians ever existed.)
I haven't seen the text of the law. I'm not sure what it dictates. We may be able to meet the requirements by displaying the "ten commandments of golfing" (thou shalt keep thy eyes on thy ball). Or the "ten commandments of baking" (thou shalt measure thy ingredients). Maybe they're satan's ten commandments (thou shalt kill)?
The third reason this is boneheaded is that the people who pushed it through at the expense of legislation that might have actually helped the country instead of hurting it, knew they were doing wrong. But they did it anyway. They knew this was illegal and would be rejected (albeit, after costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars for the trials). They did it because the fundies need their egos stroked. There's an election just around the corner and the dirty buggers who voted for this know how well it will sell to Ma and Pa Trailerpark.
Wouldn't it be nice if we all lived according to these magical commandments? Gee, how can I object to forcing one group's religious beliefs as the official beliefs of the United States? Mostly, the commandments are good ideas. Don't steal, kill, lie, cheat on your spouse, respect your folks. But then there's stuff about praying, and idols and that's the sort of thing that the government has no business endorsing. It's bad enough we have mystical sayings and pictures of supernatural beings on our money!