The religious right-dominated Oklahoma legislature recently has voted to approve a bill authorizing the erection of a Ten Commandments display at the OK State Capitol. Once again, these Christian zealots are mixing their religion with politics, a notion contrary to the principle of separation of church and state that has been a cornerstone of this nation. The shameless pandering to voters by the so-called Oklahoma House of “Representatives” – who clearly don’t represent anyone not accepting the Ten Commandments as a cornerstone of their spiritual beliefs – is yet another indicator of the crumbling of our national commitment to protecting the rights of minorities. Many ignorant people see majority vote as the litmus test of democracy, but it’s not. Rather, it's always been the protection of the rights of the minority. In this case, putting the Ten commandments on the Capitol grounds is a clear violation of the separation of church and state, despite its being financed by private money (the author of the legislation, Rep. Mike Ritze, Republican, Broken Arrow, OK).
This seems to be an outgrowth of a 2005 decision by the Supreme Court ruling that by a 5-4 vote indicated that a display of the Ten Commandments on the capitol grounds in Austin, Texas, was somehow more historical than religious and so was not considered to be unconstitutional. Such a ruling is manifestly preposterous and evidently reflects how successful G.W. Bush was at packing the Supreme Court with ideological allies.
The threat of Muslim violence seems to have fueled the continuation of a religious revival here in the USA, and especially in “red” states. What the believers fail to recognize is that what the Muslim fanatics want in their nations is precisely what these Christian fanatics are trying to achieve here: a theocracy. It’s fine to have pride in your beliefs, but it’s contrary to the principles of this nation to force your beliefs on others.
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Response to El Gran Rogelio:
Erecting a display of the Ten Commandments indeed doesn't establish a theocracy, but it's a major step in that direction. Regarding all the rationalizations you've provided: suppose a Muslim benefactor wished to erect a display of writings from the Koran on the Oklahoma State Capitol grounds, perhaps right next to the Ten Commandments display? Imagine the (literally) righteous indignation from most of people favoring this display of the Ten Commandments! The religious connection between the State and the Christian religion here is unmistakable and unambiguous. The Ten Commandments is in no way a historical document, unless you believe literally in the historical truth of the Bible.
There are many aspects of modern US government that are not formally codified in the Constitution, including the notion that all men are created equal (that's only in the Declaration of Independence). So what? The traditional "separation of church and state" was supported by many of the Founding Fathers and is inherently the right thing to do for a government that wishes to avoid a state-supported religion. I reiterate: the key to democracy is not majority rule. It's the protection of the rights of minorities. I view this action as an encroachment by the religious right - and can legitimately invoke the prospect of a "slippery slope" argument. If we merge the Ten Commandments with the government of the state of Oklahoma, why stop there? Why not institutionalize more religious elements into the state? Prayer in schools, religious iconography, and on, and on, and on. Eventually, the majority get their wish for a theocracy and the minority are systematically shut out and perhaps eventually persecuted for daring to be different. The US would be analogous to Iran ...
Not being forced to read the display is irrelevant. It's a clear intrusion of religious dogma into the state government.
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4 comments:
This is a pimple being portrayed as a potentially fatal septic boil. Erecting a tablet containing the Ten Commandments does not a theocracy make.
If anything, America is much, much farther from religion in government than it was in the 1800s, when references to the divine regularly infused not only Congressional hearings and presidential speeches, but textbooks and public school education, to the point of accustomed pervasiveness. Recall that none other than George Washington stated, "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor."
Did we become a theocracy as a result?
Absolutely not...not even close. We certainly won't during these days of fervent anti-religious politics, and certainly not because a few state legislatures post the Ten Commandments. That's chump change in the big picture.
There is no need for anyone to be concerned about an American theocracy. To worry about that happening is a waste of time and of neurological resources. Never have we been *farther* from a theocracy; indeed, the State may be more hostile to the Church today than at any time in U.S. history.
A reminder: "Separation of Church and State" is not codified literally, as such, anywhere within the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution or its amendments. Instead it is a post-constitutional conceptual invention derived from a personal (not official) letter of Thomas Jefferson to a religious group, in which he described a "wall of separation" between Church and State.
If anything, the Church needs to be protected from the State, far more than the other way around. The Founding Fathers recognized this, and did expressly codify that in one form within the First Amendment to the Constitution. That protection may have gone even farther, had the framers been privy to the myriad ways that State harangues and constrains the activities of the Church today.
For reasons too numerous to elucidate here (maybe in a BLOG entry of my own sometime), I question the practicality and merit of absolute Church-State separation in either direction.
That said, if the concept of "separation of church and state" is legitimate, and is to function to its fullest and most literal extent, the State must take an absolute hands-off approach to the Church, in every way, including nontaxation (for the most part true), nonregulation (often untrue) and non-interference (manifestly false re: IRS).
If anything, the lack of church-magnetized moral compasses in employees of mass media, business *and* government may be a major reason all those institutions have become so corrupt.
Finally, in no way, shape or form is erecting the Ten Commandments "forcing" religion on others. That's a bogus and unsupportable position. Nobody is forcing any citizen to stop and read that plaque, nor to stop and worship at the crosses placed alongside the highway where fatal wrecks have occurred, nor to bow before the Stars of David engraved atop the gravestones of Jewish soldiers resting in Arlington National Cemetery (which is public land). The free choice to read, reverentially ponder or utterly ignore those words and symbols still is yours, and will remain so. Don't like it? Don't look at it!
In response to Rogelio...
Less religious than the 1800's? LOL!
Does the Scopes trial ring a bell? Dover, PA? How about right-to-lifers, "Family Values", "Faith Based Initiatives"? How about gay marriage, prayer in schools, In "God We Trust" on money (which wasn't introduced on coinage until the Civil War and paper money in 1956 - prior to this E Pluribus Unum, a response to McCarthyism), "One Nation Under God" in the pledge (1954), and the list goes on ad nauseam!
The Ten Commandments have NOTHING to do with the Justice system, or the founding of this nation, and the first 5 are unconstitutional and unenforceable, the first 4 have nothing to do with morality (they FORBID the practice of any non-Christian faith, religious art, language like "God damn it!, and working on Sunday. Yeah, sure, let's hold this piece of trash up as an example for our Justice system?
Additionally, posting these Commandments is a demonstration of government preference for Christianity over all other religions and non-belief, which is a DIRECT violation of the principle of Separation of Church and State!
The Commandments are CHRISTIAN! And this country IS NOT a "Christian Nation"!
Try reading the treaty of Tripoli!
As for Jefferson...
From au.org
"Thomas Jefferson’s Jan. 1, 1802, letter to the Danbury, Conn., Baptist Association is a seminal document in American church-state history. In the letter, Jefferson used the metaphor of the “wall of separation between church and state,” a phrase that, as the Supreme Court once noted, has come to be accepted as an authoritative declaration
of the scope and meaning of the First Amendment."
and
"Religious Right groups frequently assert that the Baptists wrote to Jefferson because they wanted him to issue a proclamation calling for a day of fasting and prayer or because they were alarmed over a rumor they had heard
that a national church was about to be established.These assertions are not true. The Baptists wrote to Jefferson to commend him for his stand in favor of religious
liberty and to express their dissatisfaction with the church-state relationship in Connecticut"
Rogelio...stop using Religious Right revisionist history and courting extremism!
Chuck wrote:
"Regarding all the rationalizations you've provided: suppose a Muslim benefactor wished to erect a display of writings from the Koran on the Oklahoma State Capitol grounds, perhaps right next to the Ten Commandments display? Imagine the (literally) righteous indignation from most of people favoring this display of the Ten Commandments!"
Or even better, what if Atheists wanted a paque that said "There is no god"? Hey, Rogelio...just don't look at it.
Chuck wrote:
"Regarding all the rationalizations you've provided: suppose a Muslim benefactor wished to erect a display of writings from the Koran on the Oklahoma State Capitol grounds, perhaps right next to the Ten Commandments display? Imagine the (literally) righteous indignation from most of people favoring this display of the Ten Commandments!"
Or even better, what if Atheists wanted a plaque that said "There is no god"? Hey, Rogelio...just don't look at it.
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