A Good “10 Commandment” OP/Ed

For a guy that doesn’t like to read, it seems like I do a lot of it.  Right now I’m working through Les Miserables trying to get it read before going to see the movie after Jan 1.  It is 4k pages on my Kindle app.  No chance I’ll get though it, but alas I’m reading something not news, youth ministry, theology, or technology specific.  Back to topic.

I was reading my local news paper, The Tulsa World, online, and ran across this OP/ED about some folks wanting to place the “Ten Commandments” as a monument on public property.  I’ve read many, many OP/ED’s about this issue and this is one of the better ones that asks the question, “Does a block of granite make us better?”  Oddly, no where does the writer point out that the “10 Commandments” are based in Judaism and are not specifically, “Christian.”  I’ve always found that odd as well that so few Christians know that the “10 Commandments” are not Christian specific.  Anyway,  a few paragraphs and a link to read more.

Ten Commandments: Does a Block of Granite Make Us Better?”
By MIKE JONES Associate Editor  | The Tulsa World
Published: 11/25/2012  2:27 AM

Placing the Ten Commandments on public land does offend me. Why is it that Christians, at least some of them, insist that their way is not simply the best way, but the only way? They often point to John 14:6 which says, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Read a few other holy books and you will find the same kind of passages concerning other religions.

This country was founded more on freedom from religion. The fact is, some of those who fled the tyranny of a forced religion, and who we celebrated at Thanksgiving, became religious tyrants themselves.

The Bill of Rights was adopted to set that straight.

Were the Ten Commandments, as well as other religious tenets, influential on U.S. law? Of course. But that does not give them the endorsement of the government.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/article.aspx?subjectid=213&articleid=20121125_11_G1_CUTLIN114689