If you are celebrating Louisiana mandating the Ten Commandments being shown in the classroom, you are falling for the trap.
This country was founded on religious freedom. That doesn’t mean YOUR religion. It means ALL religions.
If you want to practice your faith, you are more than welcome to, and the State cannot tell you otherwise. But using the State to mandate that others MUST adhere to your religion is NOT the way to go about it.
I understand the Left have gone completely off the wagon and mandated their woke religion on everyone, but that doesn’t mean we have to replace their woke religion with another religion. There should be absolutely ZERO affiliation between church and State.
Christians can yell at me in the comments all you like, but I am correct. If you all support this, you are just as bad as the Dems, just in the opposite direction.
Just because we don’t want “wokeness” in schools, doesn’t mean we need to go full-blown Puritan Christian theocracy to counteract it.
If you want your kids to learn Christian values, send them to a Christian school, and stop forcing your religion on people. The fact that this needed to be explained is pathetic.
Madalyn Murray O'Hair made pretty much the same argument, which ended up removing God from the classrooms. And as John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Now the Ten Commandments could be SAID to represent Christian (and Judaic) values only, but do they really? Nearly all religions of man codify some version of those 10 laws. Even most governments do so too.
In the absence of ANY moral code in our schools, the most succinct and inclusive turn out to be the Ten Commandments. Understandable by all, even those of lower IQs... plain language... no caveats or exceptions or footnotes...
In addition to the Ten Commandments, I'd like to see the Pledge Of Allegiance also returned to the classroom, along with Civics and an honest American History.
The problem is half of the 10 commandments are specifically addressing the inner religious beliefs and outward practices of the people. Israel was established as a theocracy, i.e. a holy land where justified holy war maintained the purity of the land, as well as holy punishments on unholy sinners, etc. and they were explicitly marked out as a people cherished especially by God, that was supposed to be evidenced by their singular devotion to him alone. God did not covenant with any other nation in this way. Read through ALL of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and so on to get a real grasp on both the blessings and the severity of Israel entering into covenant with God, with the 10 commandments being the pinnacle summary of their responsibilities to maintain life and peace in the land.
This does not diminish the fact that God will judge all mankind according to their deeds and knowledge of him, but the provisional standard by which nations and societies ought to function (apart from theocratic Israel) is characterized by Natural Law - i.e. the moral character of God known in nature and human conscience, which directs our sense of right and wrong towards our fellow man. A life-affirming general equity of justice and peace to allow humanity to be preserved.
He's not wrong. Government shouldn't mandate religion the same as the government shouldn't prevent individual schools from practicing religion. This is what was originally meant by separation of church and state. Not to keep the church out of the state, but to keep the state out of the church.
Initially I was more of yours and Clandestine's mindset on this. But I think I should have given LA more credit on the matter.
The decision for whether a TC display can stand is whether it has no secular legislative purpose. The secular legislative purpose here is the teaching of the history of public schooling and the fact that TC displays were once mandated. It's a somewhat slippery argument but it's an undeniable historical fact and interesting given how happy people are to dwell on slavery but unwilling to talk about the lost role of faith in our children's lives.
Secondly, there is a religious battle being fought over our schooling and we're fighting it with one hand tied behind our back. If secular individuals get their way on 100% of school processes and subject matter, then they are establishing their legally recognized religion on the school system. The very argument that they are projecting onto others.
We are seeing the results of letting them operate unchecked.
I do have some sympathy with this view, and believe me, if this signals a return to Christian values there’ll be nobody happier than me. However, I can see how this may pan out. Other religions will demand their holy scriptures be posted on school walls, the Koran, Talmud etc. Heck, the LGBTQ+ and Trans groups are pseudo-religious and could demand their slogans be erected in prime positions around our schools, indoctrinating our children’s young, fertile minds.
I’d prefer to keep public schools secular.
@WarClandestine on X
Conservatives and Christians…
If you are celebrating Louisiana mandating the Ten Commandments being shown in the classroom, you are falling for the trap.
This country was founded on religious freedom. That doesn’t mean YOUR religion. It means ALL religions.
If you want to practice your faith, you are more than welcome to, and the State cannot tell you otherwise. But using the State to mandate that others MUST adhere to your religion is NOT the way to go about it.
I understand the Left have gone completely off the wagon and mandated their woke religion on everyone, but that doesn’t mean we have to replace their woke religion with another religion. There should be absolutely ZERO affiliation between church and State.
Christians can yell at me in the comments all you like, but I am correct. If you all support this, you are just as bad as the Dems, just in the opposite direction.
Just because we don’t want “wokeness” in schools, doesn’t mean we need to go full-blown Puritan Christian theocracy to counteract it.
If you want your kids to learn Christian values, send them to a Christian school, and stop forcing your religion on people. The fact that this needed to be explained is pathetic.
https://x.com/warclandestine/status/1803498060661543181?
Show me where this runs afoul of “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”.
Congress did not make a law respecting the establishment of religion.
Congress did not make a law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
It is perfectly Constitutional for Louisiana to put up the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are Moses.
The Beatitudes are Jesus.
Why aren’t Christian’s promoting Jesus over Moses?
Ten Commandments are God, not Moses. Jesus is God.
Jesus distinguished the Ten Commandments from his own commandment, which is to love God and to love one another.
Jesus and God have the same character.
The Old Testament religion is a different religion to which Jesus is the antidote.
As a Christian I follow BOTH the Old and New Testament.
Madalyn Murray O'Hair made pretty much the same argument, which ended up removing God from the classrooms. And as John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Now the Ten Commandments could be SAID to represent Christian (and Judaic) values only, but do they really? Nearly all religions of man codify some version of those 10 laws. Even most governments do so too.
In the absence of ANY moral code in our schools, the most succinct and inclusive turn out to be the Ten Commandments. Understandable by all, even those of lower IQs... plain language... no caveats or exceptions or footnotes...
In addition to the Ten Commandments, I'd like to see the Pledge Of Allegiance also returned to the classroom, along with Civics and an honest American History.
The problem is half of the 10 commandments are specifically addressing the inner religious beliefs and outward practices of the people. Israel was established as a theocracy, i.e. a holy land where justified holy war maintained the purity of the land, as well as holy punishments on unholy sinners, etc. and they were explicitly marked out as a people cherished especially by God, that was supposed to be evidenced by their singular devotion to him alone. God did not covenant with any other nation in this way. Read through ALL of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and so on to get a real grasp on both the blessings and the severity of Israel entering into covenant with God, with the 10 commandments being the pinnacle summary of their responsibilities to maintain life and peace in the land.
This does not diminish the fact that God will judge all mankind according to their deeds and knowledge of him, but the provisional standard by which nations and societies ought to function (apart from theocratic Israel) is characterized by Natural Law - i.e. the moral character of God known in nature and human conscience, which directs our sense of right and wrong towards our fellow man. A life-affirming general equity of justice and peace to allow humanity to be preserved.
I love it when good people, smart people, can agree to disagree, amiably and civilly. Thank you for your response.
It's becoming a rare quality, most especially online.
He's not wrong. Government shouldn't mandate religion the same as the government shouldn't prevent individual schools from practicing religion. This is what was originally meant by separation of church and state. Not to keep the church out of the state, but to keep the state out of the church.
Initially I was more of yours and Clandestine's mindset on this. But I think I should have given LA more credit on the matter.
The decision for whether a TC display can stand is whether it has no secular legislative purpose. The secular legislative purpose here is the teaching of the history of public schooling and the fact that TC displays were once mandated. It's a somewhat slippery argument but it's an undeniable historical fact and interesting given how happy people are to dwell on slavery but unwilling to talk about the lost role of faith in our children's lives.
Secondly, there is a religious battle being fought over our schooling and we're fighting it with one hand tied behind our back. If secular individuals get their way on 100% of school processes and subject matter, then they are establishing their legally recognized religion on the school system. The very argument that they are projecting onto others.
We are seeing the results of letting them operate unchecked.
I do have some sympathy with this view, and believe me, if this signals a return to Christian values there’ll be nobody happier than me. However, I can see how this may pan out. Other religions will demand their holy scriptures be posted on school walls, the Koran, Talmud etc. Heck, the LGBTQ+ and Trans groups are pseudo-religious and could demand their slogans be erected in prime positions around our schools, indoctrinating our children’s young, fertile minds.
I’d prefer to keep public schools secular.
Where do you think the values that make this country great come from? Do you not realize that as God is removed the country goes down?