Thursday, November 03, 2011

The American Justice System Is Based on the Ten Commandments

Bill O'Reilly is the highly paid host of a prime time TV show on one of the most popular networks in the United States. I was recently watching this video and one of O'Reilly's statements caught my attention.

About two minutes into the segment, O'Reilly says ...

He (Dawkins) basically says that United States isn't founded on Judeo-Christian philosophy. That's just absurd, I mean our justice system is based on the ten commandments. In fact, what hangs in the Supreme Court? The Ten Commandments.

I assume that Bill O'Reilly must be correct because no respectable TV network would allow one of its star performers to tell lies about America.

But there are some problems with the first four commandments. I'm not an American and I'm not a lawyer so I'm hoping that some American lawyer will leave a comment explaining these problems. First Commandment

This seems pretty straightforward. The American justice system ought to be based on the idea that you have to worship the Judeo-Christian God and no other. You certainly aren't allowed to be an atheist.

There's a minor problem. When I look at the first amendment to the American Constitution I see ....

This is widely interpreted by the US Supreme Court to mean that Americans enjoy the right to worship whatever god they want or even (gasp!) no god at all. On the surface this seems to be in direct conflict with the First Commandment. Where am I going wrong?

Second Commandment

This commandment also seems pretty clear. The American justice system should prohibit bowing down before any statues (e.g. Jesus on the cross, the Virgin Mary, Hindu gods, statues of Buddha). The punishments ought to be severe.

Are these Federal Laws that the Supreme Court upholds? Or are they state laws? What's the punishment for disobeying the second commandment?

Third Commandment

I'm not aware of the blasphemy laws that make the American justice system compatible with the third commandment. Can someone give me a reference? Is it okay to take the name of the other gods in vain?

Fourth Commandment I get this one. Whatever your sabbath day, you can't allow your servants to work, or your cattle. I've always obeyed that part, even though I live in Canada.1

But I'm a little confused about the prohibition on you working on the sabbath. Does the American justice system really insist that people don't work on the sabbath? What about all those employees in the Walmart store on Sunday? Are they all going to jail? For how long?

1. I made my wife work on the sabbath. That seems to be okay since it's not covered by the fourth commandment.
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