Hanging Ten

By J. Brent Walker

In a debate in the Kentucky legislature over whether its schools should post the Ten Commandments, one legislator said, "If you don't think the Ten Commandments are good teachings, then vote against this bill." That understanding is precisely the wrong approach to this controversy, and it provides a good example of how politicians "demagogue the Decalogue" for partisan advantage.

This is not a debate over whether the Commandments teach sound theology or wholesome ethics. That is a given, particularly for Jews and Christians. No, the question is not whether the Commandments embody the right teachings; the question is who is the right teacher -- the government or the Church? I can think of few things more desirable than for people to read and obey the Ten Commandments. I can think of little worse than for government to tell its citizens to do so.

This practice -- often referred to by the surfing metaphor "hanging ten" -- usually violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. As a result, the constitutionality of the practice often dominates our debate. But important theological and practical reasons should convince people of faith to object to government getting involved in posting, and thereby endorsing, holy writ.

First, it puts government in the role of something of a secular high priest deciding which rendition of the Ten Commandments will be enshrined as orthodox. Which one, Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5? Which version, Jewish, Catholic or Protestant? Which translation, King James, New International, or New Revised Standard? These fundamentally religious decisions should be made by families, churches, and synagogues, not by Caesar.

Second, making such decisions will engender rivalry among religious denominations, sects and traditions. Stopping short of posting the Ten Commandments saves America from a religious struggle that would make losers of us all. In our religiously pluralistic nation, the worst thing government can do is to take sides in matters of religion. One of the reasons we have had precious little religious strife -- despite our vast diversity -- is that government has remained neutral in such matters. This neutrality ensures a future where Christians and Jews will not have to abide the posting of other faiths' religious documents in public places.

Third, one cannot properly interpret a text, including the Ten Commandments, without considering the context. The First Commandment states that, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, you shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20: 2-3). Thus, the Commandments are part of a specific covenant between God and the Israelite people. The text is betrayed when we try to replace Moses and the Israelites with President Clinton and America or with Judge Roy Moore and the citizens of Alabama. The Commandments have fared quite well for several millennia without the help of American politicians.

Fourth, supporters seek to justify the posting of the Ten Commandments by arguing that they are the basis of our system of law and political culture. In an effort to buttress the constitutionality of posting the Commandments, they want to exhibit them along with other documents, such as the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. While this may tend to shore up constitutionality, it's terrible theology. Jews understand the Ten Commandments as a central tenet to their religion and their relationship to God. Christians highly respect the place of the Commandments in the Exodus story and the life of the church. To place the Commandments along side of and on equal footing with these secular documents depreciates the high regard placed in them by those in the Jewish and Christian traditions.

Fifth, the Ten Commandments are not a good calling card for evangelical Christians to leave for our culture. They emphasize law and rules, leaving out crucial concepts like God's grace, saving faith in Jesus Christ, personal conversion and New Testament ethics. In the spirit of Paul's letters -- reflected in Philippians 3, Galatians 3, 2 Corinthians 3, and Romans 2-5 -- Christians seek salvation in Christ. The Commandments, while helpful, leave out the very hope and cornerstone of the Christian faith. For Christians, "hanging ten" is like throwing a party without the honored guest.

Sixth, posting the Ten Commandments tends to make them an object of devotion to be read, meditated upon and venerated and to make them something of a talisman -- a good luck charm -- to help protect our children from evil or destructive influences. For the Jew and the Christian, this risks violating the First Commandment against having other gods and the Second Commandment against making graven images. Moreover, the notion that the Ten Commandments carry any talismanic qualities borders on endorsing magic. As Ron Flowers, professor of religion at Texas Christian University, has written:

[M]agic is humans' attempt to control God for their own welfare, whereas religion is humans' response or obedience to God. The pattern evident in government officials' posting the Ten Commandments in courtrooms and public schools is much closer to magic than authentic religion. The commandments have become an amulet, a magical charm to do the posters' will. (Liberty, July/Aug. 2000, p. 6).

Finally, there is little doubt that school children will benefit from learning the ethical principles embodied in the so-called "second tablet," the last five commandments dealing with behavior. But putting them up on the wall and hoping for the best, particularly when obscured by the presence of numerous secular documents, is poor teaching. There are better ways to do it. Public school teachers and administrators need to roll up their sleeves and get serious about character education and teaching values. Our schools can and should teach our children, among other things, that it is wrong to lie, steal, covet, commit adultery and murder in a context of a well-planned and properly constructed course in values education. This is the job that schools should do and can do effectively, leaving the religious instructions embodied in the "first tablet" of the Ten Commandments to families, churches and synagogues.

In sum, when Jesus taught us to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's, it claims too much to say he was articulating a well-developed concept of separation of church and state. However, he was teaching at least that there are certain things that God does and other things that God authorizes government to do and, correspondingly, people have different duties and responsibilities to each. It is part of the role of civil government, through the public schools and elsewhere, to model and teach good behavior, leaving to families and houses of worship the task of religious instruction. To ask our government to do the latter not only violates the Constitution but also represents an abdication of our responsibility to nurture the faith formation of our children.

For Christians who take the Ten Commandments seriously, let's write them on our hearts, as the prophet Jeremiah instructed, instead of hanging them on the wall. Then we'll be able to incarnate the love of God perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ, and make a real difference in our world.

Whitsett Journal: Fall 2000