Posting Ten Commandments Fails the History Argument

Most founders were people religious. They also understood religion should be practiced freely

Colonial Virginians were required to belong to the Church of England (later, the Episcopal Church), attend worship services and contribute to its work and operations. According to Monticello’s Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, “dissenters from that Church (primarily Presbyterians and Baptists) were discriminated against and seriously persecuted,” a reality that “deeply disturbed Jefferson.”

Jefferson strongly believed that religious freedom for “the Jew, the Gentile, the Christian, the Mahometan, the Hindoo, and [the] infidel of every denomination” was essential to the success of the new country. In 1786, Virginia approved Jefferson’s Statute for Religious Freedom, assuring that residents would not be coerced into a particular religion or even required to hold any religious belief.

Jefferson’s Virginia colleague, James Madison, used the Statute for Religious Freedom as the basis for the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1791. Madison, often called the Father of the Constitution, agreed with Jefferson that religious freedom was a foundational right for all citizens of the new United States.

It’s worth recalling that most of the country’s founders were men of religious conviction. They also believed that the practice of one’s faith was personal. “The Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate," said Madison. Echoing the language of the Declaration of Independence, Madison called freedom of religion an “unalienable right. It is unalienable, because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence contemplated by their own minds cannot follow the dictates of other men.”

Louisiana is relying on its own interpretation of history to justify government-sanctioned promotion of one religious ideology. The state passed a law that will require every public school to display the Ten Commandments. According to Gov. Jeff Landry, “Most of our laws in this country are founded on the Ten Commandments. What's the big problem? That's the part that I don't understand." 

The “big problem” is this: The Ten Commandments have historical value and, for many, provide important spiritual guidance. But they are only one of many foundational sources of U.S. common law.

“Common law” is derived from precedent and tradition rather than statutes. The first four commandments (using the Protestant version of the document; more about that in a bit) have some history in the colonies, but are unconstitutional and have been from the first days of our country.

Two others are worthwhile life principles - avoiding adultery and lying - but ignoring them is as much a tradition as is compliance. In fact, while adultery remains a statutory crime in some states, it rarely is punished. Lying is a criminal act only if it does harm (for example, fraud and perjury).

That leaves us with four commandments. Two, honoring one’s parents and not coveting another’s property, have strong religious tradition behind them, but aren’t part of U.S. statutory or common law. The prohibitions against stealing and murder have long histories - including in cultures that pre-date Moses and the Ten Commandments - and integrated into U.S. statutes. But even the latter has loopholes. In Louisiana, for example, so-called castle laws put property above the sanctity of the life of a person thought to be stealing one’s car, for example. The state’s stand your ground laws impose no requirement on a person to retreat from a threat and instead authorizes the use of deadly force.

Posting the Ten Commandments poses another problem: what version is the “right” one? The Protestant, Catholic and Jewish versions differ. The variations mostly are minor, but sometimes significant. Catholics, for example, eliminated the Protestant second commandment prohibiting graven images and idols, arguing that it was implicit in the first commandment to honor only the one, true God. Protestants objected, claiming the Catholics were just protecting their churches filled with statues and pictures, some of them great artistic masterpieces. Perhaps the debate transcends theology.

To fill out the list of the required Ten Commandments, Catholics took the high road on the matter of what constitutes property. Protestants say the prohibition against coveting what belongs to your neighbor includes your neighbor’s wife. Wait, say Catholics, a wife isn’t property. Coveting your neighbor’s wife should be its own wrong. Catholics made it commandment nine.

Both Protestants and Catholic are silent on coveting your neighbor’s husband.

Then there is the issue of the Jewish version - something of an awkward question considering that the source of the Ten Commandments is Deuteronomy, part of the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. Louisiana probably won’t spend much time there, a state in which three-quarters of the residents are Christian. But among those Christians, the largest group are Roman Catholics. Is choosing one version of the Ten Commandments over others a case of government endorsing a specific church?

Certainly, in all their forms, the Ten Commandments are important principles in the Judeo -Christian traditions. They have a valuable place in instructing appropriate behavior and fidelity to God.

As a history lesson, though, they stand in partnership with many other ancient codes. The five core precepts of Buddhism, for example, begin with prohibitions against killing and stealing. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi established the principle of innocent until proven guilty. And so it goes.

Public education throughout the country, and especially in states like Louisiana, is struggling. Too many children are being poorly-served, sometimes as a result of racism, inadequate funding and political ideologies.

Gov. Landry argues that the Ten Commandments are part of our national life. "When the Supreme Court meets, the doors of the Supreme Court on the backside have the Ten Commandments," he said, among other examples he cited.

That’s true enough, but those posts are not without controversy. More to the point, they are intended for audiences of presumably well-educated adults who (at least in the best version of our public institutions) have the critical thinking ability to discern when, how or if the Ten Commandments or other religious precepts and traditions have standing.

If Louisiana - and, for that matter, all states - made sure that today’s elementary and high school students were taught that same ability to think critically, the Ten Commandments would be a far more valuable education tool.

As it is, Louisiana may couch its statute in historical terms, but it is imposing religion on students, many of whom have little ability to make reasonable judgments about the state’s intentions. To say otherwise violates the ninth commandment (unless you’re Catholic, in which case you have run afoul of number eight).

(Tom Horner has more than 40 years experience in public policy and politics at the federal, state and local levels. These occasional articles offer a perspective not tied to the Democratic or Republican parties. Subscriptions are free and emails will not be shared. Please feel free to forward these articles.)