PRO 1
Our government was based on religious principles from the very beginning. The 10 Commandments are the foundation of our moral government.
CON 1.1
Having religious principles does not mean that they wanted to use the government to force religion on the country. The ratification of the constitution by the states was held up because it didn't have a written list of basic rights that couldn't be taken away. The very first line in the Bill of Rights reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". After these were assured only then was the constitution ratified.
PRO 2
Since the court outlawed prayer, the nation has been in steady moral decline. Former Secretary of Education William Bennett revealed in his cultural indexes that between 1960 and 1990 there was a steady moral decline. During this period divorce double, teenage pregnancy went up 200%, teen suicide increased 300%, child abuse reached an all-time high, violent crime went up 500% and abortion increased 1000%. There is a strong correlation between the expulsion of prayer from our schools and the decline in morality.
CON 2.1
If you go back the other way in time, do you find higher morals in slavery, or our treatment of Indians, or more recently, Jim Crow laws in the South, or official discrimination against women or children being used as cheap labor?
CON 2.2
The Census Bureau reports that 63 percent of the population claims church membership, a figure that has remained virtually unchanged since the 1960 census.
CON 3
The BILL OF RIGHTS was designed to protect the minorities basic rights from the majority. In the case of religion "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". It says its against the constitution to prohibit free exercise of religion. Free is a key word here, state supported religion is not "FREE EXERCISE" its "FORCED RELIGION" and that is prohibited.
PRO 4
Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., a cheerleader for the measure, reportedly said that if the Ten Commandments had been posted at Columbine, the shootings would never have taken place.
CON 4.1
The boy who shot six of his fellow students in Barr's home state of Georgia had attended a church service the night before.
CON 5
The book of EXODUS has two completely different versions of the 10 Commandments. EXODUS 20 and EXODUS 34. One Commandment that is common to both versions is keeping the Sabbath. In EXODUS 35 Moses tells the people that those who break the Sabbath, even lighting a fire in their homes, should be put to death. Will this Commandment teach our kids about ignoring inconvenient rules?
PRO 6
All that we would like to do is give the kids a foundation for moral behavior. This is not an evil conspiracy, its an attempt to make things better and safer for all kids.
CON 7
"This is about the government playing favorites and saying Judaism and Christianity are the appropriate religions and everyone else is wrong," explains Peter Eliasberg, an ACLU attorney. "That's not moral guidance, it's dividing the people on the basis of religion."
CON 8
The 1st Commandment says "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me". I believe some reasonable people might consider this "establishment of religion".
Here is the question: Do you believe people when they say that the 10 commandants being posted inside of schools, make a serious difference when it comes to steering children into the proper directions, of having morals?
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Nicole Farhi
"Mosaic law" is the foundation of all Western law. I do not see how posting the 10 commandments is doing anyone any harm except for the usual fringe groups that are professional victims. I was taught as a child, and no it was not Moses himself
, that the first three
commandments are the law of God, and they are on a separate tablet from the other seven, which were considered the law of of man.
What exactly is the offence, shouldn't we all try to live in accordance with those commandments.
Even looking at the laws of God, "I am the Lord thy God though shalt not put false gods before me." Every man is his own God in that he must follow the dictates of his conscience, what is to argue?
"Keep Holy the Sabbath", I fall back on a rhyme my grandmother taught me eons ago:
Friday night is my delight,
And so is Saturday morning,
But Sunday noon comes to soon,
and so does Monday morning.
We all have our own definitions of holy.
1I'm still trying to figure out why it is the Governments responsibility to instill morals values in our children. That is a parental responsibility and a parental success or failure. If the parents in your churches community need help then put your word where your mouth is and get to knocking. Don't rely on the schools to do it for you.
As far as posting the Ten Commandments I can't remember the last Christian affiliated church where I've seen the Ten Commandments posted proudly right in the front for everyone to see. I've seen a few that's for certain but the problem is I've passed hundreds of Churches that do not so what's their excuse. They're a church at least a public school is a secular institution which at the least provides a painfully obvious reason why they do not have monuments to the Ten Commandments.
2Hypno,, I agree about family responsibility on instilling moral values. Have you made your thoughts known to the California education system , with all that politically correct "sensitivity" training that passes for education. Maybe they should stick to the basics of education.
3IMO the problem with applying PC is that it's often applied to appose the previous action rather than simply being applied to right the boat so to speak. More often then not organizations or individuals apply the opposite extreme and all they succeed in doing is tipping the boat to the other extreme rather than actually righting the boat and being PC.
4This is so silly. Most kids can't read anyway so what is the point?
Okay that was probably overly snarky BUT when you look at how we have allowed schools to be "dumbed down" this may not be so far off topic. If you gave the same exit test I took in 1980 to high school seniors today they would fail miserably.
I agree...morality needs to be taught at home. If we expected schools to teach morality we'd be a real mess. They are already too busy teaching stuff which has absolutely nothing to do with educating our youth.
5Don't we want all our children to live their lives according to the 10 commandments? Heck shouldn't all societies around the world live by those "commandments"?
6i don't see any benefit to posting them. separation of church and state, pure and simple, if you want your kids to be taught this, send them to private school. or church.
7I know a much cheaper way than prvt. school. Have dinner with your kids at least 3x a week. Eighteen years of that and you'll have little Ten Commandment soldiers running around.
8that would be even better!
9I don't want my kids living by the 10 commandments and thinking that is the end all/be all! I must say I find it frightening that there are people who want everyone else to live by what they view as commandments laid down by "god" and prophets in the bible. How is that any different than how muslims radicals feel about forcing sharia on others? I wouldn't make the assumption that it is the best example of morals and that everyone wants to follow that.
I want my kids to have morals on correct and wrong behavior, and yes I do agree with some of the 10 commandments, but no I don't want my kids believing that they have to worship on Sunday and that there is but one "god".
My high school hung a list of 7 morals that society should keep in mind. Such as do not harm other people, do not lie/cheat, charity and such. It was not based on any one religion's morality, but instead was basic good morals to have in any society. That I think is okay - but when you start posting the ten commandments or 5 pillars of islam, or whatever any other religion lays down as their commandments, I have a problem with that. You can separate church and state and still teach basic morality such as murder is wrong, cheating is wrong, etc.
10Are you aware that over the nine justices when they sit in court have the ten commandments? Western civilization law is based on mosaic law.
11If you go into the room where the nine justices of our Supreme Court sit, you will see the ten commandments displayed PROMINENTLY on the wall over them. Western civilization's laws are based on the Mosaic law.
12I agree Grandpa and I think it's okay to say the commandments were a strong reference point for most of our forefathers because that is certainly the truth. The Ten Commandments are also at least in my opinion non denominational and they may be mosaic law but they also largely encompass common sense. There were good people before the Ten Commandments who did not live by the Ten Commandments but already lived by common sense right vs. wrong principles. They may have been the minority at the time but they did non the less exist.
13From my reading of the bible, and history, i doubt the 10 commandments had that much of a salutary affect on the actions of mankind for a milleniums after they were recorded.
14Religion should be left out of school. It's not up to them to be teaching in dept about a certain religion. And if they do then one religion should NOT be considered as more important than the other, or worse than another.
15True *Nyrina* I don't believe that one religion should be considered more important than the other.
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