112th CONGRESS 1st Session

H. RES. 211

Expressing support for designation of the first weekend of May as Ten Commandments Weekend to recognize the significant contributions the Ten Commandments have made in shaping the principles, institutions, and national character of the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 7, 2011

That’s right, 22 Congressmen have been beavering away in the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to bring this job creating, debt reducing, colossal waste of time and money to the floor for a vote.

Yes. The 10 Commandments. You may have watched the movie. Ten outdated laws of ye old bronze age, that have no place in our modern society and often trumpeted as the bedrock of US law (they aren’t, but why would sheep critically think about it?), is once again taking up time in our Congress.

Why? Why would I rail against this? Let’s examine.

1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Well, no, you’re not. In fact, you’re nothing more than a fairy tale to more than a quarter of US citizens. Moreover, given it’s a tick-box on a census form, a further percentage of that remaining 75% was just too lazy or chicken shit not to check it.

Given this is a secular nation, the 1st Commandment is worthless to us, if not insulting.

2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.

We’re two commandments in, and so far there zero relevance for the national character of the United States. Shit, given how most worship their local sports teams this whole country should be one giant smoking crater.

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

Well, god damn it all to hell. Doesn’t that just violate one of our lovely Amendments. 0 for 3, Congressmen.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Surprise Christians, you’ve been fucking this up for decades! The Sabbath is Saturday. Imagine the collective sphincter tightening if they actually had to honor Judeo values instead of that bullshit Judeo-Christian line they love to spout? 0 for 4.

5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

Being nice to your parents isn’t by any means a religious value. It is, however, a catchy Desmond Dekker song. It’s by no means shaped the principles, institutions, and national character of the United States.

0 for 5.

6. You shall not murder.

Wait, a version of this is on the law books! However, it’s also a law recorded in many other places before the Ten Commandments came together. So can we really give it credit? Is this not common sense?

Let’s cut them a break and give half a point. so, 0.5 for 6.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

This certainly isn’t a law in the US. It’s not like we stone people to death for it. It gives some leeway in a divorce case, and that’s about it. On the flip side, it does seem to be a major past time for preachers of mega-churches, often with other men!

0.5 for 7.

8. You shall not steal.

Much like 6, laws against stealing have been around for thousands of years. Kind of hard to give credit here for this being a Christian value that shapes the nation. I’ll be consistent and give it another half point.

1 for 8.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Why, lying is a national past time. Just ask Congressman Kyle.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

Ho, ho, ho, this is a rich one. Again, keeping up with the Jones is a national past time. Moreover, this one was a classic for arguing the bible actually encouraged slavery (after all, if God didn’t want you to have slaves, why tell you not to covet your neighbor’s slaves?). You want to claim that as a Christian value representing America, be my guest.

So in all two half points out of ten. Did the Ten Commandments have a role in shaping our national character, laws, and institutions?

Fuck no.

Is the GOP wasting a lot of time on this bullshit?

Hell yes.

And this is why religion needs to be out of politics, wholesale.

It’s a waste of all our time. It’s shoddy thinking

It makes otherwise nice and intelligent people do stupid things and make ridiculous justifications.