devmorgan.com

I want to clear something up. The United States legal system is not based on the Ten Commandments.

This information is already written about many other places (as I am clearly not the first to have issue with this statement), but I wanted to place it here, where I can link to it easily for those who don’t believe me.

By the way, different religions have different breakdowns of what actually constitutes the 10 commandments. For this post, I will use the “Anglican, Reformed, and other Christian” breakdown from wikipedia. We will also not discuss the nuances about translation here.

Preface: I am the Lord your God
Legal: Not a Law

This is not a law in our legal system. It’s also not really a commandment in this particular division.

1: You shall have no other gods before me
Legal: Not a Law

This is not a law in our legal system.

2: You shall not make for yourself an idol
Legal: Not a Law

This is not a law in our legal system. Depending on how you interpret it, it could be quite the opposite in our culture.

3: You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God
Legal: Not a Law

God damn it, Jesus Christ. This is not a law in our legal system. See, I wasn’t arrested just then.

4: Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
Legal: Not a Law at the Federal level

This is not a law at the federal level, but I will concede that some communities have put laws in place prohibiting some things from happening on days such as Sunday. Which is just one of the possible days that could be considered sabbath according to various Judeo-Christian sects. What about Saturday?

5: Honor your father and mother
Legal: Not a Law

This is a nice thing to do, and perhaps most people would believe it to be the right thing to do, but it is not a law. Doesn’t address the problem if your father or mother were horrible people either.

6: You shall not murder
Legal: This is a Law, almost everywhere

Hurray! We have reached the first commandment that is actually considered a law in the United States. I would like to point out that it is also a law everywhere else in the civilized world as well, Judeo-Christian or not. This is a socially understood human reality, not a religious one. Killing is bad.

7: You shall not commit adultery
Legal: Not a Law at the Federal level

This one is a little tricky. There is no law against committing adultery at the federal level. There are still some laws on the books in some areas of the country, but they are rarely, if ever, actually enforced.

8: You shall not steal
Legal: This is a Law, almost everywhere

Our second commandment that is actually a law in the United States - as well as most other places in the world. Taking from others, what is not yours, is immoral, as well as illegal. If you are going to steal, just do it right, make sure you give those you take from small-pox infested blankets and march them for hundreds of miles. Committing a greater atrocity can trump this one.

9: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
Legal: This is a Law, but only in legally binding contexts

Telling my neighbor: “I saw a giant cyclops in my back yard!” does not get me arrested. Telling a judge that I saw Billy stealing a Goat, when I actually didn’t, will. Also, that dress doesn’t make you look fat at all.

10: You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife [...] anything that belongs to your neighbor
Legal: Not a Law

If you want your neighbor’s wife, you might be a dick, but not a felon. If you want what your neighbor has in his garage, you might be an American.

I guess 2.5 out of 10 isn’t too bad? The commandments that happen to be laws are that way because they are good for any society, not because a god said so. The best thing that one can do is to look at them for what they are. They are a list of directives for people, who choose to believe in a particular deity, to follow. They are not laws for our nation, and they only apply to those who subscribe to that particular dogma.

Those who say that our legal system is based off the Ten Commandments are flat out wrong. If they said “2.5 of the 10 Commandments”, “Some of the Ten Commandments”, or most accurately “A Minority of the Ten Commandments”, at least they’d be closer to accurate.

Our legal system was and is built off what is good for society as a whole. It may fail sometimes, and it may succeed others, but that is why it works. Not because a god said something, but because society is better off with generally accepted rules in place.

dave rambling, religious views