Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, is a list of religious and moral imperatives which, according to the Bible, was spoken by YHWH to Moses on Mount Sinai and engraved on two stone tablets. They feature prominently in Judaism and Christianity. In Biblical Hebrew they are termed Aseret ha-Dvarîm עשרת הדברים, and in Rabbinical Hebrew Aseret ha-Dibrot עשרת הדברות both translatable as "The Ten Utterances". The name decalogue is derived from the Greek name δέκα λόγοι or dekalogoi ("Ten Speeches") found in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name.

Controversies

Sabbath day

See main articles: Shabbat, Sabbath

Related Topics:
Shabbat - Sabbath

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Most Christians believe that Sunday is a special day of worship and rest, every week commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week on the Jewish calendar. Most Christian traditions teach that there is an analogy between the obligation of the Christian day of worship and the Sabbath-day ordinance, but that they are not literally identical - for a believer in Christ the Sabbath ordinance has not so much been removed as superseded, because God's very work of creation has been superseded by a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17), according to this Christian view. For this reason, most teach that the obligation to keep the Sabbath is not the same for Christians as in Judaism, and for support they point to examples in the New Testament, and other writings surviving from the first few centuries.

Related Topics:
Sunday - Resurrection of Jesus

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Sabbatarian Christians (such as Seventh Day Adventists) disagree with the common Christian view. They believe that custom of meeting for worship on Sunday originated in paganism, and constitutes an explicit rejection of the commandment to keep the seventh day holy. Instead, they keep Saturday as the Sabbath, believing that God gave this command as a perpetual ordinance based on his work of creation. These sabbatarians claim that the seventh day Sabbath was kept by all Christian groups until the 2nd and 3rd century, by most until the 4th and 5th century, and a few thereafter, but because of opposition to Judaism the original custom was gradually replaced by Sunday as the day of worship. They often teach that this history has been lost, because of supression of the facts by a conspiracy of the pagans of the Roman Empire and the clergy of the Catholic Church.

Related Topics:
Sabbatarian - Saturday

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Idolatry

See main articles: Idolatry, Idolatry in Judaism, Idolatry in Christianity

Related Topics:
Idolatry - Idolatry in Judaism - Idolatry in Christianity

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Christianity holds that the essential element of the commandment not to make "any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above" is "and bow down and worship it". Thus, they hold that one may build and use "likenesses", as long as the object is not worshipped. As a result, many Christian buildings and services feature images, some feature statues, and in some Orthodox services, icons are venerated. For most Christians, this practice is understood as fulfilling the observance of this commandment, as the images are not being worshipped.

Related Topics:
Icon - Worship

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Eastern Orthodoxy teaches that the incarnation of God as a human, Jesus, makes it permissible and necessary to venerate icons.

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For Jews (and some Protestants as well), veneration seems to violate this commandment. Jews read this commandment as prohibiting the use of idols and images in any way.

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Very few Christians oppose the making of any images at all, but some groups have been critical of the use others make of images in worship. (See iconoclasm.) In particular, the Orthodox have criticized the Roman Catholic use of decorative statues, Roman Catholics have criticized the Orthodox veneration of icons, some Protestant groups have criticized the use of stained-glass windows by many other denominations, and Jehovah's Witnesses criticize the use of all of the above, as well as the use of a cross. Amish people forbid any sort of graven image, such as photos.

Related Topics:
Iconoclasm - Jehovah's Witnesses - Amish

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Public monuments and controversy in the USA

See also: Roy Moore, Van Orden v. Perry and Separation of church and state in the United States

Related Topics:
Roy Moore - Van Orden v. Perry - Separation of church and state in the United States

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There is an ongoing dispute in the United States concerning the posting of the Ten Commandments on public property. Certain conservative religious groups, alarmed by the banning of officially-sanctioned prayer from public schools by the U.S. Supreme Court, have sought to protect their right to express their religious beliefs in public life. As a result they have successfully lobbied many state and local governments to display the ten commandments in public buildings. As seen above, any attempt to post the Decalogue on a public building necessarily takes a sectarian stance; Protestants and Roman Catholics number the commandments differently. Hundreds of these monuments – including some of those causing dispute – were originally placed by director Cecil B. DeMille as a publicity stunt to promote his 1956 movie The Ten Commandments.http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200109/10_schmitzr_laxten-m/

Related Topics:
United States - U.S. Supreme Court - Director - Cecil B. DeMille - Publicity stunt - 1956 - Movie - The Ten Commandments

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Secularists and most liberals oppose the posting of the Ten Commandments on public property, arguing that it is violating the separation of church and state. Conservative groups claim that the commandments are not necessarily religious, but represent the moral and legal foundation of society. Secularist groups counter that they are explicitly religious, and that statements of monotheism like "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" are unacceptable to many religious viewpoints, such as atheists or followers of polytheistic religions. In addition, if the Commandments were posted, it would also require members of all religions to likewise be allowed to post the particular tenets of their religions as well.

Related Topics:
Secularist - Liberals

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Some religious Jews oppose the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools, as they feel it is wrong for public schools to teach their children Judaism. The argument is that if a Jewish parent wishes to teach their child to be a Jew (as most do), then this education should come from practicing Jews, and not from non-Jews. This position is based on the demographic fact that the vast majority of public school teachers in the United States are not Jews; the same is true for the students. This same reasoning and position is also held by many believers in other religions. Many Christians have some concerns about this as well; for example, can Catholic parents count on Protestant or Orthodox Christian teachers to tell their children their particular understanding of the commandments? Differences in the interpretation and translation of these commandments, as noted above, can sometimes be significant.

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Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have launched lawsuits challenging the posting of the ten commandments in public buildings. Opponents of these displays include a number of religious groups, including some Christian denominations, both because they don't want government to be issuing religious doctrine, and because they feel strongly that the commandments are inherently religious. Many commentators see this issue as part of a wider kulturkampf (culture struggle) between liberal and conservative elements in American society. In response to the perceived attacks on traditional society other legal organizations, such as Liberty Counsel have risen to defend the traditional interperetation.

Related Topics:
American Civil Liberties Union - Kulturkampf - Liberty Counsel

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Fred Phelps sued the city of Boise, Idaho to place a monument stating that gay student Matthew Shepard went to hell because of his sexual orientation. The argument was based partially upon the fact that a Ten Commandments monument was also in the park. The city of Boise, in an attempt to avoid legal costs, moved the Ten Commandments monument to a nearby church yard. Phelps continues his efforts to place the monument over objections of city fathers and gay rights groups.

Related Topics:
Fred Phelps - Matthew Shepard

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Recently, adherents to the Summum philosophy have added a new twist to this controversy by suing for placement of their "seven aphorisms" next to the ten commandments in several public parks in Utah. On March 2nd, 2005, the United States Supreme Court heard the case of whether the Ten Commandments are permissible on public land. The court agreed not to order the removal of the ten commandments from all public lands, but struggled on where to draw the line when it comes to the ten commandments in courthouses. "I'm looking for a key. What's too far, what's not?" said Justice Stephen Breyer.

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