Sometime this year the US Supreme Court will decide if exhibiting the Judeo-Christian 10 Commandments in courthouses and other publicly-supported venues is constitutional. While I certainly hope they uphold the doctrine of separation between church and state, I won’t be at all surprised if they decide to blur the lines just a tad.
However, if this is the way we’re going to play the game, then I plan to bring my own ball and bat to the playing field. I will march myself down to the Salem City Hall and the Oregon State Capitol to demand that they erect a monument or place behind a shiny glass window selected verses of the Tao Te Ching.
I’m a tax-paying American citizen. If they’re going to force non-Christians like me to have to navigate around documents, portraits, monuments and nativity scenes from a religion that I don’t subscribe to, then I think all the Christians in the City of Salem and the State of Oregon should be afforded the same opportunity vis-à-vis a belief system different from theirs.
In fact, I’m going to encourage ALL of my non-Christian comrades to seek the same kind of remedy. I have friends who are Muslims, Buddhists, Pagans, Wiccans, Hindus, and Humanists. If it’s a-ok to have the 10 Commandments shown in public buildings, then I think we should openly allow tracts from ALL religions and belief systems!
Hey, in time, each and every public structure across the nation can become quasi-religious institutions. Instead of going to the public library, taking a course at a local community college or university, or surfing the web, people can trot themselves down to the nearest taxpayer-supported building to learn about all things religious.
Who knows? There may come a day when we can dispense with all the churches, synagogues and mosques. We won’t need ‘em. We can simply go to the County Courthouse or local City Hall to hold our prayer services. We could even provide for joint offerings – half would go to the religion of your choice and half would go to the local government. And, maybe we can get rid of all these silly elections too. Rather than cast votes for our leaders, we could just let the local religious institutions appoint them for us.
Of course, if this kind of WILD thinking worries you, then you better pray – pray really hard – that the High Court decides that the separation of church and state needs to be upheld. If not, I and my fellow Taoists will work to insure you’re exposed to far more Taoism than you ever thought possible.
oh my, it's times like these that make me proud to say I am a Canadian.
ReplyDeleteHey, it's times like these that I wish I was Canadian!
ReplyDeleteI think the logic goes something like this: Since this country's culture and laws (at the time of founding) were based on the Bible and, ultimately, on the 10 commandments (law being perceived as having been handed down and validated from a Higher Authority), the display is of historical and not religious significance. Had Lao Tzu's writings had an equal impact and influence on the founding of this country and the shaping of its laws, passages in the Tao Te Ching would be just as appropriate.
ReplyDeleteIf that is indeed the rationale at work here, then I would expect that any religious documents/artifacts of the Iroquois Confederation would be provided with equal space. The US Constitution borrowed a lot from the constitution of the 5 Nations.
ReplyDeleteAgreed and I think the inclusion should be pursued. However, the text of the 10 Commandments is not the same as displaying a star of David, cross, crescent, yin/yang; they were precursors to our current laws. Displayed as text, it ia a legitimate secular historical display. If the display is decorated with religious symbols, it's a different matter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the history - I didn't realize the founding fathers also drew from Native American sources; I certainly didn't learn that in school.