I am starting to hate the Ten Commandments. Or rather, I’m starting to hate their role in our society.
A lot of reactionary assholes out there think the solution to all problems is simply to stick up a copy of the Ten Commandments where folks can see it, and hey! problem solved! This week, reactionary asshole-in-chief Glenn Beck suggested that if we’d only pay more attention to the Ten Commandments, catastrophes like the earthquake in Japan wouldn’t happen. In my home state of Virginia, school officials in Giles County posted the Ten Commandments on the wall of a local high school after the Columbine shootings as “a natural reaction to such an alarming moral breakdown.” (How or why it was a natural reaction is unclear.) When there were complaints that posting religious scripture in a public school violated the church-state divide, the Commandments were removed. This sparked outrage among the local conservative Christians, students began sticking copies onto the wall with tape in protest, and the school board voted to officially re-post them. Now the ACLU is spearheading a lawsuit to remove them again.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Fighting over posting the Ten Commandments in public schools, courthouses and civic buildings happens constantly in the US. It’s enough to make me want to do away with the damn things altogether, because to be perfectly frank, the majority of people—including the Ten Commandments’ most vocal cheerleaders—truly have no fucking clue what they are or what they mean. For the majority of Christians—and it’s always Christians who want to post the Ten Commandments—the Commandments are just a talisman. They are a shorthand for God, morality, religion, family values, all that righteous stuff that Christians love to get righteous about.
Problem is, the whole notion that Real Americans can or will follow all the Ten Commandments is patently absurd. Are they going to get rid of their crucifixes, paintings and figurines of Jesus? (Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.) Will they give up any kind of work or play on Sunday and only go to church? (Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy). Will they give up saying “I swear to God” or “Oh my fucking God?” (Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain)?
And will they hold those observances of the Commandments to be just as important as the commandments not to murder or commit adultery or steal? Because the Ten Commandments do not give precedence to the bans on murdering and cheating. Murdering and cheating, according to the Ten Commandments, are just as bad as painting a picture of Noah’s Ark or saying “Oh my fucking God!”
Yeah, I don’t think so either. And since we know they’re not going to do it, who are they to tell the rest of us that we should? Especially people like Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, who, as you can see in the video above, wants the Ten Commandments posted in every courthouse in Georgia even though he doesn’t actually know what they are. (Believe me, if you questioned a roomful of fundamentalist Christians, an awful lot would be similarly ignorant about the particulars).
Religious people who want to wave the Ten Commandments before our eyes at every possible opportunity are using them as a blunt instrument to bludgeon their Christian beliefs—not Judeo-Christian, mind you, just Christian—into everyone else whether we like it or not. Which is not only in violation of the First Amendment when it’s done in a public space, but a completely dickish and intolerant thing way to treat your fellow citizens (dickish and intolerant being the usual hallmarks of fundamentalist Christianity).
So even when I go to shul tomorrow night and stand before the tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments, worshipping the God who we believe gave them to Charlton Heston Moses, I’m going to be wishing that my fellow Americans would just give the Ten Commandments a rest already.
I will only allow the Ten Commandments to be put in public spaces if they also include the other 603 commandments in the Torah. So there.
On a serious note, I just don’t get how putting the Ten Commandments up everywhere is going to change anything. Someone who has put it into their mind to kill, steal, etc. isn’t going to be swayed because a poster says, “Thou shalt not.” It’s naive to think that.
Know what else? If you ever cite something ridiculous in the old testament and a fundie says we don’t follow that anymore because it’s in the old testament and we’re in a “new covenant,” point out that the ten commandments and that verse in Leviticus about homosexuality being an abomination are in the old testament. They’ll drop the argument for the time being, but will come back with it again at their earliest convenience. It’s like trying to have a conversation with a merry-go-round.
The ten commandments (which list? cuz there’s more than one list) don’t include a prohibition of rape, don’t include a prohibition of slavery, and spend 4 items (40%) telling me to worship.
They are useless.
also, establishment of religion? Isn’t that, like, illegal?
The most hardcore fundie idiot I know called CFS on me once and told them that I was starving, beating and not bathing my child to get back at me for calling her a hypocritical douche publicly for all of our friends to see.
Thou shalt not bear false witness indeed.
The thing about the Christians being so enamored of the Ten Commandments is that NO Christian actually follows them, by definition. They start out “I am the lord your god and you will have no other gods but me.” So considering Jesus to be an alternate deity? That’s kind of a non-starter, Ten-Commandments-wise.
Oh God, Marie Anelle, that’s a TERRIBLE story. Did she get in trouble for wasting their time when they realised it wasn’t true? (I hope so!)
The really scary thing about Beck & co. is that they seem to fetishize religion so that they don’t have to think too hard about, you know, actually dealing with problems. If we pray hard enough, global warming will go away, we’ll avoid nuclear disasters, etc. If too many people start thinking that way, it can only end badly.
The sad part is: even if the Ten Commandments were put in all these public places, people would ignore them, anyway. Does anyone ever notice the things around them anymore? No. They have their faces stuck in iPads, iPods, and Blackberrys. You could stencil things on sidewalks and no one would notice.
This isn’t about the commandments. This isn’t really even about religion, although that’s the motivator for these wasteful efforts. This is about the fact that our society pays no attention to the obvious, but loads of attention to the trivial. We are more concerned with fairness in the judging on American Idol than we are in our courts. We’re far more interested in watching shows about social problems (Teen Mom, Intervention) than actually doing anything to stop those problems in the first place.
We’re a myopic culture, only capable of seeing what is right in front of our face, and even then being oblivious to what it truly means. How do you think the Republicans and Fox News can get away with making outrageous and patently-false statements? Because the people of this nation don’t care. And that goes back to what kids are taught in the home and in school, not whether ancient Biblical writing is carved into the walls.
I’d have to say you’re wrong about Jesus being an alternate-diety, Sheila, since Christianity states that God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit are one in three forms – Jesus literally being God and vice versa in the big, confusing triangle. But none of that theology matters, since clearly the issue here is separation of church and state, and how the state seems to be blending the lines. Feel free to e-mail me at blindirishpirate at gmail.com if you want to talk further – just so we don’t delve from the topic at hand & clutter up the comments.
I know that we’re not supposed to question the content of the blog, because feminism shines through in many aspects of life. What I don’t understand though (and I’m not being passive aggressive – I really want to know) is what this has to do with feminism? Obviously it’s political in nature and annoying at least for Christians like me and frustrating at best for those who are not. But other than complaining about narrow-minded, underhanded, ignorant fundamentalists… how does this apply?
@Blind Irish Pirate: Feminism is not some absolute box, into which we only pour issues directly affecting women. Feminism is a concept that states that women have just as much right as men to work, play, love, and be concerned, without the tacit requirement that they are subservient to men in any regard. This is as much a women’s issue as a man’s issue; more to the point, it is a societal issue, and therefore a fit topic for discussion.
There is this blinders mentality that seeks to limit feminism to its own corner of the world, instead of accepting that it encompasses the whole world. Women everywhere are affected by every issue, either directly or peripherally, and this blog seeks to put the discussions of women of these topics on a par it does not normally have in the mainstream.
@ididitonce: Dang, you took my line!
We won’t even pay attention to traffic lights, for Pete’s sake, and we don’t have to read those. Why on earth these morons-who seem, btw, to have trouble with the adultery commandment-think shoving them in everyone’s face will make a difference, I have no idea.
Morons.
@Blind Irish Pirate:
Nefarious Newt’s response is exactly right.
“It’s political in nature and annoying at least for Christians like me and frustrating at best for those who are not. But other than complaining about narrow-minded, underhanded, ignorant fundamentalists… how does this apply?
Underhanded, ignorant, intolerant fundamentalists are just about the biggest threat to social justice and equality—for women, for gays, for PoC—in US society today. Who do you think is trying to take away our reproductive rights? Who’s trying to prevent gays from marrying? Who wants to cut funding for women’s healthcare? Who’s preaching Islamophobia and immigrant-bashing?
The right to not be oppressed by fanatics trying to shove their interpretation of religion down our throat in public institutions sponsored by our tax dollars is a HUGE feminist issue. It’s not just “frustrating” for those of us who aren’t Christian, it’s a violation of our civil rights, and civil rights for everyone regardless of religion. Those are issues that this feminist takes very seriously, which is why I “complain” about them on this blog.
Love that word “complain” especially. It’s classic dismissive-speak: what are you women complaining about now? And when a Christian dismisses a Jew as merely “complaining” about religious oppression and intolerance…well, that’s your Christian privilege talking. It’s not your problem, so it’s just complaining.
@BIP: You can’t separate right-wing religion from the people who control it. And those people want women and men to live according to their patriarchy-driven, woman-controlling fantasy. This 10 Commandments fetish is, as Becky says, shorthand or code for a world view that is profoundly threatening to every feminist, male or female.
I really like the ten commandments because of the first commandment. God says: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. But he doesn’t say other gods don’t exist and are imaginary, or that other gods are bad, or that other people shouldn’t worship other gods.
In fact, he might even be saying that it’s perfectly okay to have other gods “after” him.
Blind Irish Pirate:
Christianity is coming out of a period of intense cultural dominance, and people are going to question whether we would accept things done in the name of Christianity if the same things were done in the name of a different set of beliefs. Feminists, almost by definition, are people who question cultural assumptions. Why would the practice of religion be exempt?
@bella: I know, I always thought that was the funny thing about the First Commandment. God is totally acknowledging that there are other gods that the Israelites can and do worship. God’s even acknowledging that those other gods may be perfectly fine for non-Israelite folks but if you’re an Israelite, He is your god, so you’d better not be cheating on Him with some neighboring tribe’s god.
Really, “thou shalt not” or prohibition in the Bible is a red flag that whatever’s being prohibited was an issue for society at the time the Scripture was written. If it weren’t a problem, no one would have felt the need for God to address it.
@ididthatonce: I am down with posting the other 603 so we can all eat cold food on Saturday, keep kosher, and mind our tzitzit.
I agree the whole notion of “If we post it, everyone will behave themselves!” is completely ludicrous. It makes me think of how in shul, the Ten Commandments are always posted just above or just below the words Know Before Whom You Stand , i.e. Be reverent! Big Skydaddy is watching you!
I think for fundmentalists, there’s some overly optimistic notion that if the Ten Commandments are everywhere, it’ll remind everyone that God is watching them all the time and that will make them regulate their behavior. Which…good luck with that.
@Becky:
Truth. And that makes the Bible a whole lot more fun to read, because, seriously, people in the Bronze Age were inventive about being bad.
@Endora
The CFS system here has no legal allowances for false calls. It’s such bullshit.
Fair enough. Thanks for explaining. For the record, I’m not trying to silence anyone in questioning why, nor am I using “complaining” as a tool to do so.
I’ve watched with interest the posting of the ten commandments on public buildings in the US.
I think, in part, this also refers to fundy Christians who appear to believe that human beings cannot have a moral/ethical compass without “teh Christian G*d” ™ [as interpreted by that particular church].
In some ways I wish instead that Kant’s categorical imperative would be painted instead…
@Mackey: You don’t have this problem in Australia, do you? It always seemed to me that posting the 10 Commandments is a particularly weird American compulsion. I don’t know of any other country whose citizens push for it.
@Becky – in australia we don’t have the same sort of public outcry. But then the only express constitutional right we have is the one of no state sanctioned religion. Whilst aussies are reluctant to change the constitution, any rights it gives tend to be jealously guarded.
@Beckysharper: “Christian beliefs—not Judeo-Christian, mind you, just Christian” – am I ever glad to see someone making that distinction!
@BeckySharper, in a different way: “God’s even acknowledging that those other gods may be perfectly fine for non-Israelite folks but if you’re an Israelite, He is your god, so you’d better not be cheating on Him with some neighboring tribe’s god.” One of the reasons Asherah gets bad press in the Old Testament was that she was held to be Yahweh’s wife in more ancient times, so it took special attention to stop her from being worshipped. But Judaism has never claimed to be a one-true-way (most religions don’t, which is something that gets little press among critics of religion in general), and most of its laws are supposed to be set aside if following them would prove harmful.
Honestly though, when I see this fetishisation of the Ten Commandments, I can’t help thinking of them as an idol.
not worshipping any idol is itself idolaltry, as is worshipping the magic book
@Rodriguez: huh? Not practicing idolatry IS idolatry? That seems illogical. And neither Christians nor Jews worship the Scripture. The holy books are not considered a god.
well yeah it’s a little vague…here’s my wordier explanation. Getting all worked up about any specific point of worship, such as idolatry, especially in another person, but even in yourself, is a clue that the focus is wrong. Worship can’t be simultaneously about anything transcendant and also about the choice of specifics.
I find the act of telling someone: “don’t make that image or think about that picture or statue or concept in your prayer or worship life! It’s idolatrous!” offensive to the person’s humanity. Why should it be the case that some work of art or idea is not a fit focus for worship? On the other side, the critic gives themselves an easy way to feel virtuous without actually doing anything.
About your last point, I don’t agree with you. I think that Christians and Jews do worship the scripture, albeit in different ways. I think the process of “10 commandment lather rinse repeat” (funny) is exactly a manifestation of that worship.
You might say here that a fetish is not worship. I don’t agree.
Okay, a couple things here:
My “lather, rinse, repeat” comment was about how we’re constantly having to fight and refight cultural battles about posting the Ten Commandments in public buildings. It didn’t have to do with any religious aspect of the problem.
In terms of what idolatry is:
You can interpret or reinterpret “idolatry” as you like, but the Rabbinic teachings are very specific about what idolatry is in the context of the Ten Commandments: The construction or fashioning of “idols” in the likeness of created things (beasts, fish, birds, people) and worshipping them (aniconism). It also prohibits making an image of the God of Israel for use in worship (as described in the golden calf story of Exodus). This is also how it’s interpreted by Christians and Muslims, with some small differences depending on sect and culture.
As for saying what Christians and Jews worship Scripture, that is factually incorrect. Both religions are very specific about what they worship: the one God. They do not worship anything or anyone else, ever, and certainly not an inanimate object like a book.
If you want to say that holding something to be important, enlightening, and deserving of respect means that we’re fetishizing or worshipping it, that’s your opinion. But your opinion in this case directly contradicts Judeo-Christian beliefs as they’ve been stated and written down for thousands of years. I don’t think it’s for you to redefine them for us as part of a quibble over semantics.
I don’t think the stated beliefs of Christianity or Judaism coincide with what actually happens when the rubber hits the road. I think that the obsession with “no idols” is itself an idol, as is the scripture.
I don’t think it’s about semantics on my side of the argument, either. E.g. I think the way “worship” and “veneration” are defined in Catholicism is a pure semantic escape hatch out of idolatry. I’m pretty sure the same kind of logical contortions happen in other traditions.
@rodriguez: You’re trying to strip an idea—and a religion or two—-of thousands of years of its established historical context and doctrinal meaning in order to fit your definition and your belief system.
Sure, religion can act as blinders, but so can atheism. I’m reminded of this constantly when I get into discussions like this. Atheists are often just as willing as the religious to twist definitions and historical facts in order to suit their own set of beliefs and discredit others’.
I agree about atheist blinders, and that most Jews and Christians don’t worship their scriptures. When I talked about the Ten Commandments being treated as an idol, I meant only by the people like this:
Especially people like Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, who, as you can see in the video above, wants the Ten Commandments posted in every courthouse in Georgia even though he doesn’t actually know what they are. (Believe me, if you questioned a roomful of fundamentalist Christians, an awful lot would be similarly ignorant about the particulars).
People who want them displayed without even knowing what they are aren’t treating them like scripture, or anything to be read and understood, but as an object to fuel their own self-aggrandisement as its wielders. That’s where it makes me think of idolatry, not the scripture itself.
[Addendum: and I've never seen Jews behave this way, only Christians]
But Judaism has never claimed to be a one-true-way (most religions don’t, which is something that gets little press among critics of religion in general), and most of its laws are supposed to be set aside if following them would prove harmful.
Indeed, this latter is how this atheist went much of the way along the path to conversion to Judaism, back in the day when my partner’s parents would have been a lot more OK with our relationship if I would do so. I was very impressed, and pleasantly surprised, to discover this very logical attitude in Judaism (that any worship-law can be set aside to preserve health/life of humans), and it really made it a lot easier to consider conversion.
Mostly, though, I’m just glad my parents were Protestant and Catholic in the 60s UK, and eschewed the whole thing in my own raising. Sometimes I don’t get references that people make – someone brought up Solomon the other day, and I had to look it up – but seeing the public performance of Christianity on this continent, I’m as glad to be out of it.
BlindIrishPirate said:
Sheila has a valid point. It took until the Council of Nicea in 325 CE to hammer out the details of the 3-in-1, and there have always been Christian sects that reject the idea of a Trinity. In medieval times, they were ruthlessly hunted down and (generally) executed as heretics but today there are still plenty of Christian flavours who don’t believe in it.
So glad I found this blog! I recently got into a little tangle on Facebook with some friend of a friend who was all holier-than-thou, a fountain of cultlike Christianity, only to find out from the friend we had in common that this person is currently banging some married dude. So there you go…
Amber, clearly she just needs to nail a copy of the Ten Commandments to her headboard and she will cease her sinful behavior!
A friend of mine who used to be a Methodist minister and is now an atheist has an interesting take on the Ten Commandments based on the one about not coveting your neighbor’s wife. That language indicates that God was not addressing women when he delivered the Ten Commandments, since they were considered the property of men. So whenever someone starts blathering about the Ten Commandments, she enjoys pointing out that God doesn’t consider her an actual human being; therefore, The Big Rules don’t apply to her.
@AwkwardAvenger: Well…there’s a lot of debate about the gendered language of the Torah, and that’s one interpretation (and really, it’s just a dodge, because I doubt that she truly believes God intended that only men should refrain from murder, idolatry etc. Is she really making the argument that therefore women can do those things with impunity?). But it’s a very narrow interpretation and generally not accepted by Jewish scholars, including Jewish feminist scholars.
Here’s a very readable explanation of why
Well, it’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it’s an interesting point to ponder when looking at all of the other biblical language that is deliberately gendered. (For example, the stuff about husbands loving their wives and wives submitting to their husbands, the protocols for marriage, etc. In many biblical passages, it would be difficult to make the argument that references to the masculine are meant to include all humankind.) It’s a fairly useful tool to whip out when dealing with biblical literalists.
Thanks for the links- very interesting reading!
@Awkward Avenger: I don’t know where your friend got the idea that she wasn’t a human being, because God said that to have wife is a good thing and that she is far more precious than rubies. This clearly states that women are of great value. So I doubt God thinks that she is not a human being and that women are just another property to men. Everything applies to women as much as men.