HowToFoldSoup

Michael Reagan is a radio broadcaster for a syndicated show that happens to air reasonably late at night here in Houston. I happen to catch it while driving back from a pool tournament this evening, and he was, as usual, bitching about something meaningless (Bryant Gumble swearing after thinking he was off the air but wasn't..?). But then he mentioned that he received an email the other day that was complaining about the religious intervention in our government and specifically, how it was interacting with our laws and the judicial system. I'm paraphrasing, but essentially Mike said the following:

Michael Reagan is a radio broadcaster for a syndicated show that happens to air reasonably late at night here in Houston. I happen to catch it while driving back from a pool tournament this evening, and he was, as usual, bitching about something meaningless (Bryant Gumble swearing after thinking he was off the air but wasn't..?). But then he mentioned that he received an email the other day that was complaining about the religious intervention in our government and specifically, how it was interacting with our laws and the judicial system. I'm paraphrasing, but essentially Mike said the following:

"'And the Bible and Christianity should be kept out of our Legal System...' , reads this email. Well let me tell you something, John from Anytown USA, our legal system is based on the 10 commandments of the Bible. I mean.. Hellllloooooo...what kind of idiot are you. Our laws are based on the 10 Commandments as given to Moses."

There is nothing more irritating as someone being smug about something that they are totally wrong about. The 10 commandments are simple rules for maintaining and preserving societal order. They are however, not so mired in wisdom that they had to be handed down by any God, much less the Christian 'all-knowing' god. Give me a break. These are very basic tenants and very OBVIOUS to any person who isn't deranged. You don't need to be told these things, unless you also need to be told that every time you hit yourself in the head with the hammer, it'll hurt.

All of the main tenants of the commandments, by the way, can be placed into the following statement at the noted insertion point.

"Um...I don't want anybody to COMMANDMENT ME." For instance:

"Um...I don't want anybody to KILL ME."

"Um...I don't want anybody to STEAL FROM ME."

"Um...I don't want anybody to LIE TO ME."

"Um...I don't want anybody to COVET THAT THING WHICH BELONGS TO ME."

"Um...I don't want anybody to TAKE MY WEEKENDS AWAY FROM ME."

"Um...I don't want anybody to DENY THE GOD AND BIBLE CREATED BY ME."

"Um...I don't want anybody to COMMIT ADULTERY WITH THE WOMAN MARRIED TO ME."

"Um...I don't want anybody to CONVINCE MY CHILDREN TO DISRESPECT ME."

"Um...I don't want anybody to DISRESPECT THE GOD CREATED BY ME."

The ten commandments aren't even in our system of laws, but lets look over the ones that supposedly are. In no particular order:

1) Thou shalt not kill.

"God" didn't qualify this at all. He didn't say, "Thou shalt not kill unless the person you're killing killed someone themselves, or congress declared war, or if what you want to kill isn't a man, but other than those things, don't kill." We don't have this commandment in our laws, except in the most basic (convenient) sense of it.

2) Thou shalt not steal.

We get closest in following this one, but it's still so qualified and watered down, it's impossible to plainly accept our definition came from the commandment.

The other 8 aren't regarded by our laws in any way whatsoever. Again in no particular order:

3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Freedom of Religion is one of the basic tenants of our Government, not this commandment.

4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, blah blah blah

.No laws regarding this.

5) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

God Damn it. Arrest me.

6) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

All of you working at Wal-mart are not only going to HELL, but prison as well.

7) Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Granted...a lot of people are either dead or in jail with adultery to blame, but the act itself isn't a crime.

8) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Essentially, don't lie. Our government would collapse instantaneously if this was enforced.

9) Thou shalt not covet they neighbor's wife, nor his etc... nor anything that is thy neighbors.

Don't want what ain't yours. Ok. Call the thought police and tell them in newspeak that I want my neighbor's lawn mower.

10) Honour they father and thy mother.

Uh oh. Call the cops.

Enough about the commandments themselves...lets talk about other cultures who have an almost identical set of laws to our own.

India. Trust me, they didn't come up with theirs from the ten commandments. If you don't trust me, ask Shiva.

Japan. Buddha didn't even create a traditionally Christian defined 'God', much less the rules of said God.

I could go on, but the main point is, these laws we created are cross-culture, cross-border because of their obvious nature and logic. The founding fathers weren't sitting around scratching their heads asking themselves, "So, Ben, Should we let people kill each other?"

"I don't know, Tommy, perhaps, but....wait! I think I remember the Good Book mentioning something about killing. Ah yes, here it is. Thou shalt not kill."

"Hmmm. Ben, see if there is anything else in there we can use. We still have 9 slots to fill before we present this to the colonies."