The Ten Commandments Review Essay Example for Free

The Ten Commandments Review Essay Historically, even the ancient civilization flourished under the guidance of an established code of laws called the Code of Hammurabi, During Hammurabi’s rule, back in the time of Abraham of the Bible, he ruled in peace for fifty-five years, and had brilliant achievements, high civilization and extensive literature. But Hammurabi’s Code law was mainly from polytheistic people and purely secular documents erected at a certain place for everyone to see and obey. The Ten Commandments was handed down to Moses direct from the hands of God and it did not only cater to the ethical and moral conduct of the society but it taught them that these moral conduct was based on recognizing that there is God whom they were all accountable to of their conduct towards fellowmen, the society, and to the established institution of humankind. People flourished because of respecting and obeying the Code of Laws which were mainly formulated by same created beings. The Ten Commandments were made by the hands of the Creator Himself. If Moses was alive today, he would surely appear in court with his stuff in his hands and would say â€Å"Thus says the Lord, respect and obey His laws and allow it to be displayed anywhere it could be necessary.† The question about what is threatening about the Ten Commandments should be answered in court too. Today’s generation should not forget that the American nation was founded by people who had deep faith in God; the heritage of American people was rooted in the Christian traditional of the Puritans who maintained their integrity and uprightness in the face of society seemingly loosing its morality during the colonial era. In the article of Warren Richey, clarifying the issue on the case regarding Ten Commandments whether the public display of religious symbol ideas on government property endorses religion may not be appropriated enough to cause alarm on anyone. I would agree with Richey that the issue is actually a â€Å"culture war† between religious conservatives and secular humanists. Richey pointed out that â€Å"conservatives believe the government should be active in promoting morality through promoting religious ideas and themes (Richey on The Christian Monitor). On the other hand, secular humanists are attempting to erase all matters of religion and God from public life. In fact, there was even an attempt recently to remove the maxim inscribed on dollar bills â€Å"In God We Trust.† Taking the issue of separation of powers between church and state, I would agree that at many points, the church should not interfere in the affairs of the state and vice versa. Displaying the Ten Commandments in government and public places is not interfering on government affairs. Anywhere in the world, you will find symbols, themes and ideas displayed in public places in memory of the great things done that merit public display of that particular object. No one questions this display because everyone understood its significance. In this context, everyone should know the heritage of American nation and answer why in the American Constitution and on dollar bills there is an inscription of â€Å"In God We Trust.† Mary Williams stated that Article III of the Constitution declares that â€Å"education and religion shall forever be encouraged.† She further stated that â€Å"the founders saw no conflict in Article one which says, â€Å"No person demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner shall ever be molested in account of his mode of worship.† It was quite clear as Williams had emphasized that â€Å"Supreme Court radically departed from the founders’ religious policy by erecting a â€Å"Wall of Separation† between religion and public orders (Williams). The issue now is no longer on the Constitutionality of displaying the Ten Commandments in the public places nor on the issue of the separation of powers of church and state, but on the humanistic atheistic preferences of the Court system. As Williams stated, even school prayers, Bible readings and other clergy, lead invocations are all forbidden in public places. It means that though displays of Ten Commandments on government and public places was not basically not seen by the founders as unconstitutional but it seems its fate lies in the hands of those who hands judgments, whether we favor it or not. We cannot deny therefore that some aspect had gone wrong. The American society is fast losing the values of which the founders laid down as different movements rise up and gone. It shaped a new American values and culture. That is a liberal culture and consumerist society, placing the good on material things rather than on the blessings of the Almighty God. The flame of the values and religious devotions of the founders was no longer shining as the American society is heading towards the path of being an atheistic country as the article entitled ‘Religion is not Essential to America,’ the US Constitution is a secular document; it begins with â€Å"we the people† and contains no mention of God or Christianity which eliminate concept of religion and faith in God. As we had seen in recent developments, though we may be in favor of the display of the Ten Commandments and other religious symbols and beliefs, but the only that we can do is to express ideas and religious beliefs. Work Cited Williams, Mary.†The Ten Commandments Should Be Publicly Displayed.† Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. (22 July 2007) http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?contentSet=GSRCtype=retrievetabID=T010prodId=OVRCdocId=EJ3010110254source=galesrcprod=OVRCuserGroupName=lincclin_fccjversion=1.0. Richey, Warren. â€Å"Dispute over Public Display of the Ten Commandments.† Christian Science Monitor (March 2, 2005, n.p.)  © Copyright 2005, The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. â€Å"Religion is Not Essential to America.† Nontract No. 6. Copyright  © by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc. Reproduced by permission