Opinion: Requiring 10 Commandments posted in LA schools violates 1st Amendment
I am a Christian who believes in God and the Bible. I see the Ten Commandments as a guide for life that is self-rewarding. But I am also an American who reveres the Constitution with its “Establishment Clause” in the First Amendment, which allows the free exercise of any religion. At the same time it could be called the “Non-Establishment Clause” because it clearly states that our government cannot establish any religion. What Louisiana recently did with requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in all schools is a clear violation of the Establishment Clause. No religion should be able to claim government approval in America.
An important story in the New Testament tells us that the words of the Ten Commandments are not what is most important about them. It is their inherent meaning that is important. A rich young man asks Jesus what he must do to be saved. When told to “keep the commandments,” he confidently answered “I have kept them from my youth.” Then he is told, “One thing you lack, go sell everything you own and give the money to the poor.” He went away very sad because he had a lot of money and did not want to part with it. Those who want to post the text of the Ten Commandments are missing the point. In fact, the summary of the Ten Commandments ends with “love your neighbor as yourself.” The essential question then becomes, “Who is my neighbor?”
The answer is given in the famous story of the despised outcast person who aids an injured person that several religious leaders had passed by. The injured “neighbor” is cared for and arrangements made for continuing care at an inn until he is well.
America as a nation can actually fulfill the inner meaning of the Ten Commandments by having policies and programs that help people who have been injured in life or are not able to help themselves because of age or sickness. Under President Roosevelt in the 1930s our society began to make arrangements to take care of those who needed it with Social Security. Later under President Johnson we added Medicare and Medicaid. Then, under President Obama, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was added and has provided tens of millions with affordable health insurance. In these and other examples, our country has made attempts to care for those who are simply not strong enough to care for themselves in our expensive world, as the Good Samaritan did in the Bible.
We need to elect leaders who have a vision for lifting people through extending many opportunities for education, work and remaining healthy. It turns out that it is not the actual words of the Ten Commandments that are most important, but what amounts to the “The Golden Rule” of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us, almost universally recognized by all religions and those with no religion as the way we should live. It is written in the consciences of people as what is right to do. It is what our nation needs to constantly work at doing for our people and with other nations for all people. Our nation has shown over the years that building wealth alone and for ourselves ends up hurting everyone, as in the Great Depression caused by the lack of regulation of the 1920s. That is a lesson we can never forget.
In fact, we are now in danger of damaging our world beyond repair. As human beings we will always need sensible regulations to preserve creation. Living for maximum profit alone is breaking the unwritten commandments of the human heart. When we do that (not caring for our neighbors) we break ourselves as individuals and as a nation. It took us decades up to the present to learn that a society that plans for the care of all, including our fellow humans and the world around us, is what is best for all of us. All people know that caring for others as we care for ourselves is the most fulfilling life and creates the most satisfying and fulfilling society.
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Rev. Robert L. Montgomery, Ph.D., lives in Black Mountain.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Ten Commandments Louisiana ruling violates 1st Amendment
