This is a Facebook post from yesterday, responding to the news that Louisiana has passed a bill requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in all classrooms in the state.
Never mind the fact that what Louisiana has done is blatantly unconstitutional, has already been litigated in front of the Supreme Court, and will be struck down soon. Put that to the side. I just want to know: what’s the point of putting the Ten Commandments on the wall of every classroom in the state? What are they hoping to achieve? Is this an evangelism strategy?
I ask this because the same people pushing this stuff are the ones who allegedly spend a lot of time thinking about the Ten Commandments, and it doesn’t seem to be doing them a lot of good. “Thou shalt not kill”? Death penalty is pretty active in Louisiana. “Thou shalt not commit adultery”? They seem pretty gung-ho about a thrice divorced candidate who likes to brag about his supposed sexual conquests and in fact was just found guilty of paying off a porn star he cheated on his then-pregnant wife with. “Thou shalt now take the Lords name in vain”? What do you think yall are doing every time you invoke God to further the ends of patriarchy, racism, or militarism?
I could go on, but it will do no good, because if there is one thing my recent reading has been teaching me, it’s that a lot of the people in this country who want to claim the title “Christian” are anything but, and instead have baptized violent nationalism and patriarchy in the name of Jesus Christ. So, sorry conservatives, fundamentalist, and evangelicals: the example of your own corrupted faith doesn’t instill much hope in me that having the Ten Commandments in front of children all day every day will do much good. Your own example proves otherwise.
Justin DaMetz 