Thou Shalt Not Trample On The Constitution

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. This is the first amendment to the Constitution. In essence this states that the government will not become involved or sponsor any religion. There is a reason our founding fathers added this amendment to the Constitution. Any time a government becomes involved with religion or visa versa, Disaster happens. If you want evidence of this look at the history of Europe for the past 700 years and see what chaos has arisen when religion and the state intertwine. Yet we do not seem to be learning from the past.

Congress on June 17, 1999, passed a law that slaps the First Amendment in the face. That law allowed for the states to choose to post the Ten Commandments in public schools and other government buildings. The law that was proposed by Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), Rep. Robert Alderholt (R-Al), and Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL). The bill was created in response to the Columbine shootings that took place April 20, 1999.

A third argument is raised. After the Stone v. Graham decision when the Supreme Court struck down the Kentucky law that required schools to post the Ten Commandments. Lower federal courts have struck down the display of the Decalogue at government buildings as well as schools. Public schools who post the Decalogue are begging for a lawsuit that they are almost certain to lose.(Boston) Who will ultimately pay for that lawsuit. The tax payers will with time and money. The end result will be the Decalogue will be removed and we will be back at square one only we will have wasted our time and money.

In conclusion the Ten Commandments are not a magic charm that can make society’s problems disappear overnight. Although some people and politicians treat the commandments as though they are a lucky rabbit’s foot—post them on the wall and all of society’s ills will disappear! This is simplistic thinking—and it distracts us from the hard work of solving thorny social problems. Not Posting the Ten Commandments in schools wouldn’t be keeping people from religion. It would only be protecting everyone’s constitutional right not to have anyone’s views forced upon them in a government-run organization. The Ten Commandments should not be posted because they violate the first amendment. They don’t allow for the beliefs of other religions. It is wrong to force your religion on others. I believe it is a waste of time and money to even attempt to hang the Ten Commandments up. They will just come back down when the courts rule it unconstitutional. Finally I believe that we are fooling ourselves, thinking that a manuscript written thousands of years ago is going to change school violence today. The only thing that is going to change school violence today is more parent involvement in the lives of their children, not some archaic code of laws.

The oppositions' arguments against this law are enormous. One major argument is which set of commandments do you use? Do you use the Catholic, Jewish, or Protestant versions? Is there one version better than the others? Is it thou shalt not kill or is that thou shalt not murder? (Boston) Does that include self defense? What constitutes a graven image? These are just some of the questions brought up by those opposed to the bill. If the government puts up the Ten Commandments will they also post the Five Pillars of Islam, The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, the Wiccan Rede and the Affirmation of Humanism? (Boston) The gove

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