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The Ten Commandments:
Many topics, viewpoints & interpretations

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Quote:

• "Only 68 of 200 Anglican priests polled could name all Ten Commandments, but half said they believed in space aliens." ₁

• Concerning the Ten Commandments in courthouses and legislatures: You cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery," and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians...It creates a hostile work environment. ₂

We apologize to anyone who is offended by either of the above quotations. We simply couldn't resist posting them.

About the Ten Commandments:

This section deals with the Ten Commandments (a.k.a. Decalogue) which appears in three places in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). These have historically been accepted by Judaism, Christianity and Islam as a summary of the most important rules of behavior that God expects of humanity.

There is considerable debate in the U.S. whether the Decalogue should be posted in public schools, public parks, government offices, etc, and under which circumstances posting is constitutional. 

Topics covered in this section:

• Overview of the Ten Commandments: What they are; Legal challenges concerning their display in public property
   
• Text of the Ten Commandments: The three versions; grouping the commandments.
   
• Who wrote the Ten Commandments?
   
• Possible origin of the Ten Commandments
   
• What they are and who they are for
   
• Analysis of the individual commandments:
  • Commandments 1 to 5
    • Detailed analysis of the second commandment
  • Commandments 6 to 10
     
• Comparison of Qur'an verses with the Hebrew Scriptures' Ten Commandments
   
• Current status: Comparison with current moral codes; are they being followed? Do they need changing? Public knowledge. Opinion survey.
   
• Modern versions of (& replacements for) the Ten Commandments
  • More rewrites; Alternative guides to good behavior
    
     
• Legal and constitutional aspects
  • 2005 cases (Kentucky & Texas) before the U.S. Supreme Court
     
• The Ten Commandment monument project of the Fraternal Order of Eagles
   
• Posting the Decalogue in public schools: pros and cons
  • A tongue-in-cheek discussion of their posting
     
• The "Chief Justice Moore case" in Alabama
  • Exactly what is involved in this case?
  • How the conflict could have been resolved legally
  • Part 1: events from 2001 to 2003-JUL-31
  • Part 2: 2003-AUG-1 to AUG-22
  • Part 3: 2003-AUG-23 to DEC-31
  • Part 4: 2004-JAN-01 to present time
     
• Display of the "Seven Aphorisms" by Summum -- a UT religious group
   
• More legal and other developments concerning posting the Decalogue:
  • 1999
  • 2000
  • 2001
  • 2002
  • 2003
  • 2004
     
  • 2005 to now

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Related essays on this website:

• Recent U.S. court rulings on separation of church and state
• The Istook Constitutional Amendment
• Prayer in the public schools

Internet sites featuring images of the Ten Commandments:

• A 8" x 12" (about 20 x 30 cm) tile containing the Ten Commandments in Hebrew and English is available in Blue and Cream at: http://www.ariustile.com/ariuscatalog/it030009.htm
   
• The Ten Commandments in a number of world languages (Arabic. Cebuano. Chinese Simplified. Chinese Traditional. Croatian. Czech. English. Danish. Dutch. Finnish...) were available at http://www.thetencommandments.org Unfortunately, this is at least temporarily unavailable.
   
• A simplified version of the Ten Commandments, in the form of a bumper sticker, is available at: http://www.well.com/ It paraphrases a saying by Jesus:
  
  

Useful References:

• Books:
  • P.N. Benware, "Survey of the Old Testament", Moody Press, Chicago IL, (1993) Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
     
  • C.M. Laymon, Editor, The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary on the Bible, Abingdon Press, Nashville TN (1971), Pages 53 to 55 & 122.
     
  • John Shelby Spong, "Beyond Moralism: A Contemporary view of the Ten Commandments," Saint Johann Press, (2000). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
     
• Internet sites:
  • Alan M. Dershowitz, "Ten Commandments Aren't Gun Control Politics: Religion isn't a constitutionally acceptable alternative," Los Angeles Times, 1999-JUN-20. See:
    http://www.latimes.com:80/
     
  • J.S. Spong, "Why Christianity must change or die," Harper Collins (1998), Page 154. Read over 70 reviews or order this book
     
  • "Misreading Moses: Why the Ten Commandments are out of Style," Christian Week, editorial, 1997-MAR-4.  http://www.christianweek.org/
     
  • Yahoo has hyperlinks to over 10 essays on the Decalog at: http://dir.yahoo.com/
     
  • Ronald Youngblood, "Counting the Ten Commandments," Biblical Review, 1994-DEC. See: http://www.bib-arch.org/
     
  • "Promote the Ten Commandments," is a pro-life web site that supplies many essays about the Decalogue from a conservative Christian viewpoint: why they should be displayed, latest news, what does the Bible say, etc. The website advertizes many products for sale: T-shirts, bumper stickers, car magnets, decals, etc. See: http://www.ten-commandments.us/

Books on the Ten Commandments, as listed by Amazon.com's book store:

If you see a generic ad below, please click on your browser's refresh icon to get a list of books:

References used:

1. Randy Cassingham, This is True, 1997-FEB-02, at: http://www.thisistrue.com/ It is based on a UPI article. The full UPI quotation is:

   "A survey of Anglican vicars in Britain found that while some don't believe in heaven, more than half believe in life on other planets. Worse, only 68 of the 200 surveyed could name all 10 of the Bible's Ten Commandments. The only two that were almost universally remembered were the ones about adultery and coveting thy neighbor's wife; both are no-nos.

   Although the quotation may seem shocking, being asked to recite each and every commandment is a challenging question.

2. From an unsolicited Email, 2008-MAR-04.
3. We have been invited to exchange links with Jesus Christ Saves Ministries (JCSM).

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Latest update: 2008-JUL-18
Author: B.A. Robinson

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