{"id":47489,"date":"2024-06-26T02:44:08","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T08:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=47489"},"modified":"2024-06-24T15:52:12","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T21:52:12","slug":"public-schools-should-not-post-the-ten-commandments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2024\/06\/public-schools-should-not-post-the-ten-commandments\/","title":{"rendered":"Public schools should not post the Ten Commandments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Schools should post the Proclamation on the Family instead.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s true that several generations of American children went through years of schooling with the Ten Commandments posted on the wall and seem to have turned out reasonably well, or at least as well as can be expected from Generation Lead, the Me Generation, Generation Untreated PTSD and Generation Childhood Trauma, but there\u2019s a meaningful distinction between \u201cwe\u2019ve just always done this\u201d and \u201cafter 60 years of First Amendment jurisprudence, now we\u2019re going to stick it to the unbelievers.\u201d I\u2019ve sent my children to foreign schools where religion was more directly involved than we were used to (in Europe and South Carolina), and it really wasn\u2019t that big of a deal. You just accept it as one of the quaint features of life in a foreign country. But \u201cHey, this isn\u2019t your country, so deal with it\u201d seems like the wrong message to send to Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, nones, and other citizens who don\u2019t see the book of Exodus as divine revelation.<\/p>\n

Also, have you read the Ten Commandments? Even among Christians, there\u2019s disagreement about what it means to have no gods before God, to make graven images, to take God\u2019s name in vain or which Sabbath day to keep holy (\u201cdisagreement\u201d here spans the range from \u201csubject of vigorous discussion\u201d to \u201chas led to religious warfare and execution of heretics\u201d).<\/p>\n

And has anyone thought about the consequences of posting \u201cThou shalt not commit adultery\u201d in an easily readable font where first-graders can see it? I remember causing my Primary teacher some serious consternation for utterly mysterious reasons when I kept telling her that I did not<\/em> understand what \u201cthou shalt not commit adultery\u201d means, and that none of her explanations were making any sense.<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s also true that schools teach moral lessons and inculcate values, and the citizens who fund schools and the parents who send their children to them should have some say in what those values are, and \u201cTrust us, we have Ed.D.s\u201d hasn\u2019t always worked out well. I just don\u2019t think totemistic posting of the Ten Commandments is the right solution.<\/p>\n

Instead, schools should post The Family: A Proclamation to the World<\/em><\/a>. Look at the advantages:<\/p>\n