Skip to main content

The Ten Commandments and the Constitution

     I have often heard it said that the Constitution of the United States is based upon the Ten Commandments, so I finally decided to check it for myself. I suggest that individuals who think this is the case should do the same. They may be in for a surprise.
     But for those who do not have the time or inclination to make such a comparison, I present the following:

      Commandment I - Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The only time God is mentioned in the Constitution is at the end of Article VII: Done in convention . . . in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven . . . In fact, Amendment I expressly forbids any mention of religion.

     Commandment II - Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. The Constitution is silent on this Commandment.

      Commandment III - Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain. The Constitution is silent on this Commandment.

      Commandment IV - Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. The Constitution is silent on this Commandment.

      Commandment V - Honour thy father and thy mother. The Constitution is silent on this Commandment, which is fortunate for every teen-ager in the Country.

      * Commandment VI - Thou shalt not kill. The Constitution is silent on this Commandment.

      * Commandment VII - Thou shalt not commit adultery. The Constitution is silent on this Commandment. I suppose the Founding Fathers thought that it might be difficult to find Congressmen who met this requirement.

      * Commandment VIII - Thou shalt not steal. The Constitution is silent on this Commandment.

      * Commandment IX - Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. The Constitution is silent on this Commandment.

     * Commandment X - Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house . . . nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. The Constitution is silent on this Commandment. Coveting thy neighbor's goods appears to be the basis of modern capitalism.

      * These Commandments were not unique to the Israelites – they were common in one form or another in many ancient tribes.

      The next time someone mentions that our Constitution is based on the Ten Commandments, ask him to prove it.
******
     My books, “There Are Only Seven Jokes” and “The Spirit Runs Through It” are available in paperback, or at the Kindle Store.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

There Are Only Seven Jokes - Introduction

      The statement “There are only seven jokes – all the rest are variations,” has been around for a long time, but no one ever seems to know what the original seven are. I think I have found the solution to the mystery.       The answer is to be found in an article published in the New York Times on May 2, 1909. Entitled “New Jokes? There Are No New Jokes, There Is Only One Joke,” it goes on to say that all jokes are a distortion, and lists seven categories of distortion. Supposedly every joke will fit into one of the categories. I believe that repetition changed the seven categories into the seven jokes.       Each of my next seven blogs will be devoted to exploring one of the categories. In addition, I shall attempt to give an example or two of jokes which I think fit the category.       You must realize that this article appeared over one hundred years ago, so most of the jokes a...
Post a Comment
Read more
The Future of Work This is for folks who don't mind stretching their imagination a bit. Let me review some of the things that are happening in today's world. A recent news article stated that in spite of the decreasing jobless rate, the number of retail jobs has been dropping rapidly. An article in Business Insider calls it a retail apocalypse. According to the article, in the retail industry, "Since October about 89,000 workers in general merchandise stores have lost their jobs, which is more than the number of people employed in the entire US coal industry." ( http://www.businessinsider.com/retail-job-losses-are-hurting-the-economy-2017-4 ). This loss is due to the rapid expansion of online merchandising. But this is only one example of the point I want to make. According to an article in Scientific American, two professors at Oxford University published a study estimating the probability that "702 occupations would soon be computerized out of exist...
1 comment
Read more

Men Never Outgrow Their Love of Toys

     I guess I am no different from most other men – I like gadgets. I know there are some wonderful toys that I am missing, but if I am sure I have no use for an iPhone, xBox, and the like, I don't buy them. And I decided that even though the ultimate toy, my car, is 10 model years old, it's in good shape, and I don't need a new one. However, we are driving from Pennsylvania to Texas next week, so I did spring for a GPS, and it's really fascinating.      I downloaded the owner's manual and after perusing it, sort of (owners' manuals are to use when you can't figure it out otherwise), I entered my home address into the instrument. I had to test that, so I drove a couple of miles, turned around, and hit the “Home” button.      I was a bit disappointed in the results: it got me home OK, but it didn't take the shortcuts I would have taken. It did keep saying “recalculating” a few times, and when I got within a block or two of t...
Post a Comment
Read more