Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) quit the Freedom Caucus in anger because the overwhelming majority of its members objected to the recently proposed American Health Care Act. In an attempt to denigrate the Freedom Caucus, Poe added, “I got the opinion that there’s some members of the Freedom Caucus, they would vote no against the Ten Commandments if they came up for a vote.” I should hope they would all vote “No.” If the Freedom Caucus stands for freedom, they would be required to vote against promoting the Ten Commandments as the law of the land.
The first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods,” conflicts with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion—the right to worship one, several, or no gods. In fact, strict adherence to this commandment might be problematic for a Christian like Poe because the one “true” god is Yahweh, not Jesus. The next two commandments (no graven images, not taking God’s name in vain) describe how to worship and pay homage to a jealous and vindictive God who punishes several generations of children because their fathers did not worship in the correct way. Our secular laws don’t hold children responsible for misdeeds or “sins” of their parents.
The fourth commandment, keeping the Sabbath day holy (Saturday, not Sunday), describes a God who created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. In other words, this commandment would require the teaching of creationism in public schools.
The tenth commandment, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, wife, slaves, ox, donkey, or any other property,” condones slavery and treating women as property. Furthermore, support for this commandment would mean that the Freedom Caucus opposes an important component of American capitalism and advertising, which rely heavily on coveting our neighbor’s possessions.
Americans have the freedom to follow or ignore religious commandments. Would Rep. Poe really want to make the Ten Commandments the law of the land, which would turn our freedom-loving, pluralistic, and democratic society into a theocracy? Perhaps Poe only wants members of Congress to personally endorse religious commandments, rather than impose them on all Americans. If so, such a religious test for public office would still be wrong and unconstitutional.
However, Poe’s motives might be even more sinister. In 2011, AlterNet reported that Poe wanted to remove the right of deceased soldiers’ families to choose which prayers, if any, were to be read at a soldier’s funeral. Incredibly, if the story is true, he and two other politicians attempted to impose Christian ceremonies on the military funerals of everybody who has served in the military, regardless of whether the deceased was Christian.
Requiring non-Christians to have Christian funerals would rival the antics of Westboro Baptist Church, best known for its God Hates Fags slogan and for picketing funerals of those who don’t meet their strict Christian standards. As long as members of Westboro Baptist Church don’t prevent others from partaking in “sinful” ceremonies, they are exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech, however odious the speech. (Note: This is an endorsement of freedom, not Westboro Baptist Church.)
I hope members of the Freedom Caucus and all political leaders can endorse the freedom of Americans to worship or not worship as they please, without government interference. Individuals may place the Ten Commandments or passages from the Quran on their private property or houses of worship, but our secular government may not endorse one religion over another or religion over non-religion. One of the best ways to support freedom for all Americans is to promote the separation of religion and government. Were members of the Freedom Caucus to endorse the Ten Commandments as the law of the land, they should then change their name to the Theocratic Caucus.
The fourth commandment, keeping the Sabbath day holy (Saturday, not Sunday), describes a God who created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. In other words, this commandment would require the teaching of creationism in public schools.
The tenth commandment, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, wife, slaves, ox, donkey, or any other property,” condones slavery and treating women as property. Furthermore, support for this commandment would mean that the Freedom Caucus opposes an important component of American capitalism and advertising, which rely heavily on coveting our neighbor’s possessions.
Americans have the freedom to follow or ignore religious commandments. Would Rep. Poe really want to make the Ten Commandments the law of the land, which would turn our freedom-loving, pluralistic, and democratic society into a theocracy? Perhaps Poe only wants members of Congress to personally endorse religious commandments, rather than impose them on all Americans. If so, such a religious test for public office would still be wrong and unconstitutional.
However, Poe’s motives might be even more sinister. In 2011, AlterNet reported that Poe wanted to remove the right of deceased soldiers’ families to choose which prayers, if any, were to be read at a soldier’s funeral. Incredibly, if the story is true, he and two other politicians attempted to impose Christian ceremonies on the military funerals of everybody who has served in the military, regardless of whether the deceased was Christian.
Requiring non-Christians to have Christian funerals would rival the antics of Westboro Baptist Church, best known for its God Hates Fags slogan and for picketing funerals of those who don’t meet their strict Christian standards. As long as members of Westboro Baptist Church don’t prevent others from partaking in “sinful” ceremonies, they are exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech, however odious the speech. (Note: This is an endorsement of freedom, not Westboro Baptist Church.)
I hope members of the Freedom Caucus and all political leaders can endorse the freedom of Americans to worship or not worship as they please, without government interference. Individuals may place the Ten Commandments or passages from the Quran on their private property or houses of worship, but our secular government may not endorse one religion over another or religion over non-religion. One of the best ways to support freedom for all Americans is to promote the separation of religion and government. Were members of the Freedom Caucus to endorse the Ten Commandments as the law of the land, they should then change their name to the Theocratic Caucus.
