Several days ago I was sitting in a Washington DC hotel room and had CNN on in the background. Mike Huckabee was on, and his campaign is the only Republican one I’ve really taken much of an interest in so I was paying a bit of attention and heard him make the statement that our laws were based on the Ten Commandments. He’s certainly not the first person to make such a statement, and I doubt he’ll be the last before the end of this campaign.
Whenever I hear such a statement made I am reminded of the clips of politicians which fight for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in churches but fail to name even three commandments correctly. I somehow doubt that Mike Huckabee is of this kind though, his religious credentials seem genuine.
It’s been some time since I’ve read Exodus, so perhaps my own memory of the commandments is what is faulty, I consulted a list of the commandments and decided to take a look at which of the commandments the founders chose to codify into law. (I’m aware that the specific numbering/grouping of the commandments varies, and I am using the Roman Catholic grouping for consistency)
- I am the Lord your God / You shall have no other gods before me / You shall not make for yourself an idol
- You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God
- Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
- Honor your Father and Mother
- You shall not murder
- You shall not commit adultery
- You shall not steal
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s house
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife
Right off the bat it is apparent that any laws which would attempt to enforce the first or second commandment would be in clear violation of the first amendment’s religious liberties clause. (”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”) Although I am sure lawmakers have attempted to make such laws, the fact that the founders were dedicated to religious liberty would preclude laws based in the first and second amendments from being within the spirit of the nation. That’s fine though, perhaps they just wanted to take the moral lessons from the commandments and leave out the first two.
So how about #3? There actually are “blue laws” in the United States related to businesses being open on Sundays, but they are generally struck down if challenged as they too seem to be violations of the religious liberty clause of the first amendment. The premise that the laws of the nation are based on the ten commandments can hardly be held up by some obscure laws generally seen as unconstitutional.
Despite what parents of disobedient children all over the country may wish, there is no legal way to enforce #4. Free speech and personal freedom give anyone the right to dishonor their mother and father as much as they see fit, as distasteful as it may be.
#5: no murder! There are certainly laws against this, so we’re at 1 for 5. Not only are there laws against it, murder would seem to violate the “right to life” mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.
As for adultery, it’s true that there are some laws against it in some jurisdictions. The constitutionality of such laws is dubious, and enforcement is difficult. Also, the idea that this is something that the founders based our laws one seems dubious, and remember, the crime that Bill Clinton committed was perjury, not infidelity. (As a side note, apparently punishments in different states range from a $10 fine to potential life imprisonment) I’ll throw Huckabee a bone here and say we’re now at 1.5 out of 6.
#7 is about as easy as number five, stealing is generally recognized as illegal and a violation of the concept of personal property, something the founders clearly recognize as a right. For those keeping score, we’re now at 2.5 out of 7.
#8, Bearing false witness, aka lying, is another gray area. Under oath it’s illegal, but lying in most circumstances is not. In the interest of fairness, perhaps another half-point here.
The last two commandments, often viewed as one, instruct us not to covet our neighbors wife, house, or belongings. Apparently interpretations of covet vary from “envy” to “act to acquire.” Most Christian denominations use the envy definition, but it appears as if a common Jewish interpretation is that any act to acquire something envied is a violation. Neither of these cases is illegal. Legislating against envy would be to attempt to define a thoughtcrime, and even in the case of the alternative definition, asking your neighbor’s wife to leave him for you or offering your neighbor money for his home or oxen is not illegal, but certainly would constitute coveting.
Ultimately, 2 of the 10 commandments seem to be reflected in US law. Thou shall not murder and thou shall not steal. Bearing false witness and adultery are perhaps addressed as well. But that means at best 4 of the 10 commandments are reflected in the law. That hardly seems like an underlying basis. Also one would assume that most if not all pre-Christian societies had similar laws on murder and stealing, so the existence of such laws can hardly be seen as conclusive evidence of an attempt to codify the Ten Commandments into law.
While I said earlier I didn’t doubt Huckabee’s religious credentials, perhaps it is the legal credentials of those who make claims such as his that should be questioned.
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