Ten Amendments Day countering Ten Commandments Day

[Arnold_Philips]

Ten Amendments Day Project Challenges Ten Commandments Day Commission’s Claim that the United States is a “Christian Nation”―Seeks Supporters toPlace Bill of Rights Monuments in Schools and Courthouses

​

AMHERST, N.Y. (April 20, 2006)—Supporters of the Ten Amendments Day Project rose today to challenge a Religious Right coalition that seeks to replace the civil laws of America with the religious laws of the Ten Commandments. The coalition, called The Ten Commandments Day Commission, has scheduled rallies on May 7th to build support for their calls to declare the United States a “Christian Nation.”

Organizers of the Ten Amendments Day Project, a nonprofit group promoting civic virtues and the Bill of Rights, say the Ten Commandments Day Commission misleads the public about America’s founding documents and tries to support its inaccurate claims by attributing to Jefferson and Madison quotes that scholars agree are false.



from press release at http://www.tenamendmentsday.org/

 

[Ave Maria]

Um okay? I could honestly care less. And besides that, the Ten Commandments are way more important than the Ten Amendments.

 

[crazyfingers]

Um okay? I could honestly care less. And besides that, the Ten Commandments are way more important than the Ten Amendments.

I think that I could easily do without the 10 Commandments but not without the Bill of Rights. I believe that the Bill of Rights are far more important.

 

[Harpuia]

Depends on how you look at things.

From a secular point of view:

Ten Commandments show what you CAN'T do.

Ten Amendments show what you CAN do.

 

[crazyfingers]

Depends on how you look at things.

From a secular point of view:

Ten Commandments show what you CAN'T do.

I think that's a stretch. There is nothing secular about telling me to believe only in the Judeo-Xn god or telling me to go to church or telling me not to reference the Judeo-Xn god while swearing, etc..

 

[MichaelFJF]

If you believe in God, He belongs everywhere.
God trumps the Constitution.

Both of the above have been my signatures from time to time. That being said, I don't think the Ten Commandment people have a leg to stand on - I mean really - replace ALL civil laws with the Commandments? That would assume an awful lot. I mean if you boil down the 10 Commandments like Jesus did, to just the 2, everyone would get along just fine. But we're dealing with people here - people with free will - not robots.
This whole thing sounds like a nice subject to argue about in a bar........... or on a message board, but not much else.
Bottom line though - the 10 Commandments are far superior to any civil laws - including the Bill of Rights.

 

[crazyfingers]

Bottom line though - the 10 Commandments are far superior to any civil laws - including the Bill of Rights.

Na. Any document that tells me to believe in a Judeo-Xn god or tells me to go to church belongs in the trash bin.

 

[MichaelFJF]

Na. Any document that tells me to believe in a Judeo-Xn god or tells me to go to church belongs in the trash bin.

You're entitled to your incorrect opinion.

 

[Harpuia]

I think that's a stretch. There is nothing secular about telling me to believe only in the Judeo-Xn god or telling me to go to church or telling me not to reference the Judeo-Xn god while swearing, etc..

I'm assuming that the Judeo-Christian God is true, which I do believe. If true, then yes, you have to abide by the rules, but you can choose to abide or not to by your own will still.

 

[Vylo]

America is a Christian nation, but it's government is not, and is not meant to be. The U.S. government is supposed to be secular, not christian, jewish, atheist or anything of the sort. By staying as neutral as possible towards world views, this helps prevent one group from trampling the rights of another.

 

[crazyfingers]

You're entitled to your incorrect opinion.

Please demonstrate that it's not correct.

 

[crazyfingers]

America is a Christian nation,

I think that it's not correct to say that the US is a Christian nation. It's correct to say that it's majority Christian. To say that it's a Christian nation is to say that anyone who is not christian should not be considered a full member. That would be wrong.

 

[crazyfingers]

I'm assuming that the Judeo-Christian God is true, which I do believe. If true, then yes, you have to abide by the rules, but you can choose to abide or not to by your own will still.

How exactly does the assumption of the existence of a god makes something secular?

 

[Vylo]

I think that it's not correct to say that the US is a Christian nation. It's correct to say that it's majority Christian. To say that it's a Christian nation is to say that anyone who is not christian should not be considered a full member. That would be wrong.

Perhaps. I still think of it as a Christian nation (Christian heritage and majority). Just like I would think of most Arab nations as Islamic, regardless of how secular their governments are.

 

[NothingButTheBlood]

Both document are important to me. One is a communication to me from my God and one allows me to practice them freely. The US has an extensive Christian background, founding fathers or no. I see no reason both can not be displayed in public places. I also see no reason if a community doesn't care if other religious texts are displayed in a public area they shouldn't. People who live somewhere and pay their taxes should have some say in what is put up and what is not. What's sad is that tradition which isn't racist or bigoted is to be wiped out of the public eye because someone has a problem with Christians.

 

[Vylo]

nothingbuttheblood: The problem lies in that using taxpayer money to display something religious constitutes government endorsement of that religion which is prohibity by the first amendment. Personal displays are fine (cross in a government cubicle type of things)

 

[crazyfingers]

Both document are important to me.What's sad is that tradition which isn't racist or bigoted is to be wiped out of the public eye because someone has a problem with Christians.

That's a glairing misrepresentation of the issue.

The issue is that the government which everyone pays for cannot and should not be used to promote a religious point of view.

That is the problem. It's not that some people may or may not have a problem with Christians. It's that no one gets to use the government to promote their religious point of view.

Please do not misrepresent the issue.

 

[NothingButTheBlood]

I actually understand tax payer money not paying for things of this nature. Many times items are donated by agencies. There are public lands used for lots of things and I see no reason any religion can't display a donated item in park or courthouse if the community at large has no problem with it. I haven't misrepresented anything. If you don't like my opinion fine. But don't act like I'm stupid.

 

[crazyfingers]

I actually understand tax payer money not paying for things of this nature. Many times items are donated by agencies. There are public lands used for lots of things and I see no reason any religion can't display a donated item in park or courthouse if the community at large has no problem with it. I haven't misrepresented anything. If you don't like my opinion fine. But don't act like I'm stupid.

Public lands are used for lots of temporary things. Church groups are free to have a 10Cs rally on government property. They are not free to commandeer that property for a permanent fixture to their religion and government, which everone pays for, is not free to preferentially give over land that everyone owns to promote a religious point of view.

 

[OfficeBoss]

I might be ok with the 10 commandments being everywhere so long as they also displayed the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I think christians would be ok with it too since they like to encourage alternate viewpoints, and leave it up to the people to decide.