Opinion

By Rabbi Lewis John Eron, Ph.D.

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A few months ago the Texas State Senate approved a bill, Senate Bill 1515, that would require public schools in Texas to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. While the bill did not make it through the Texas House due to lack of time rather than lack of support, this bill is not unique. In the past few years there have been a number of bills proposed and laws passed in Texas that seek to reintroduce specific forms of religious expression in public schools and public life in Texas as well as in other parts of the USA.

The sponsors of this bill in particular, and of similar measures in general, are concerned by what they sense as a loss of civil and moral values in our culture and seek to remedy this situation. I share their concern. There does seem to be a loss of civil and moral values in American life today. Sadly, however, this loss is often exemplified, albeit not exclusively, by the leadership of the political, social, and religious groups to which they belong—specifically, a lack of concern for the truth, an insensitivity to family and marital values, a contempt for civic institutions and traditions, a lack of respect for religion and religious values in general, a harshness towards strangers, an insensitivity towards others, and so forth.

But, the sense that something central is missing from our national ethos is real. Gun violence and rude social discourse upset all of us. We feel separated from each other and alienated from ourselves. Our social, cultural, scientific, and technological worlds are changing rapidly. We feel unmoored and seek to remember a time when we felt securely anchored.

Although I understand the motivation behind the desire to create a sense of shared values, the approach suggested by Texas Senate Bill 1515 and similar measures is untenable. Imposing a narrow set of sectarian values upon a pluralistic society is oppressive. It reeks of self-righteousness, and it is unloving and blind. Hanging posters of the Ten Commandments, promoting Bible readings, and making time for prayer in schools all reflect a vision of spiritual unity tied to a conformity with a version of American Protestant Christianity. It is neither kind nor welcoming; rather, it divides rather than unifies.

I know that world the sponsors of this legislation imagine hope to recreate. I grew up in it. I remember school prayer and Bible readings. I remember the celebration of Christian holidays as if they were national celebrations. I remember school Christmas pageants and assemblies in which I was a bystander.

And, I remember how we used to say “Lord’s Prayer” in elementary school. Most of the students in my class belonged to Protestant denominations, though there were a few Catholics and a couple of Jews. We all began our recitation together with the 23^rd Psalm. When we started the Lord’s Prayer, the Jewish students went silent. When we came to the end of the Lord’s Prayer the Catholic students went silent. Only the Protestant students finished with the words proclaiming God’s power and glory forever and ever. By the end of the prayer we all knew who we were and who we weren’t.

The 1950s, the world of my childhood—and I had a wonderful childhood—was not the safe world portrayed in the sitcoms that were the hallmark of the early age of TV. Sure, we had prayer in school and Bible passages on the walls. For some, it seemed rather safe, but not for all. It was a world in which institutional racism still existed, women were marginalized, and homosexual men and women had to hide. I grew up in a town where my friends’ parents belonged to the John Birch Society, and I was told by my mom to be careful walking home at 4 pm when the housewives were rushing home from the golf club, already tanked up on gin. And we all knew those places where Jews, African Americans, East Asians, and others were not invited. It was a world in which nuclear destruction was an ever-present danger, and my childhood was framed by the wars in Korea and Vietnam.

As I reflect upon my experience, the claims of the supporters of Texas Senate Bill 1515–the bill to put the Ten Commandments in classrooms–seem empty.

I would like to challenge Dan Patrick, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas—the man who saw this bill and a bill making time for Bible reading and prayer in schools as wins for religious freedom in Texas—by asking, “Whose religious freedom do these bills protect?” I question his assertion that “Bringing the Ten Commandments and prayer back to our public schools will enable our students to become better Texans.” Does the hanging of inspirational posters make for better students, workers and citizens? What does he mean when he states, “I believe that you cannot change the culture of the country until you change the culture of mankind [sic]”? Whose culture does he want to change?

The author of the bill, Senator Phil King (R. Weatherford) argued that posting the Ten Commandments “will remind students all across Texas of the importance of the fundamental foundation of America.” Does he believe that the Christian Bible is the fundamental foundation of America? How does he account for the many “Founding Fathers” who were, at best, deists? Does he understand the influence of Enlightenment ideas and values on our foundational documents? How does he explain the manner in which vision of democracy in Ancient Athens and Republican Rome, both pre-Christian cultures, influenced the political thought of the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? What about all those Americans who are faithful followers of non-Christian religious traditions and those who are lack a religious / spiritual identity who have been part of the American experience from the beginning?

The arguments against posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms are well known.  They range from, “Do you really want teachers to explain adultery to your second grader?” to deep spiritual, philosophical, and theological positions.

There are also some obvious problems. The Ten Commandments appear twice in Scripture, in the Exodus and in Deuteronomy, with some interesting variants. Which one should be chosen, or does one try to harmonize them?  In addition, there is no consensus on how to count the Ten Commandments. Jews, Catholics, and some Protestants count them differently. By the way, the condensed version of proposed in Texas Senate Bill 1515 has eleven sentences so that the suggested poster cannot even used effectively for teaching arithmetic. [See Article C]

While defenders of the idea often talk about preserving what they call our Judeo-Christian heritage, there is very little “Judeo” in the name “Ten Commandments.” Once, I was challenged in a conversation with a theologically and politically conservative leaning Protestant minister when he declared, “So you think the ‘Ten Commandments’ are only the ‘Ten Suggestions’!?”

To which I replied, “Neither.” In the Jewish tradition, we call them the “Ten Statements,” a more literal translation of the Greek “Decalogue,” or “deka logos,” ten words. These Ten Statements are not so much commandments in themselves but rather serve as an introduction to spiritual and legal traditions of the Ancient Israelites and the Jewish people.

I often like to view them as the ‘Executive Summary’ of the “Law” or, perhaps, as positions to be examined–the “Ten Talking Points.” As a whole and as individual statements, the Decalogue assumes certain spiritual, theological, and cultural conditions and requires us to examine them. These include: (1) who or what is God? (2) what is slavery? (3) what is ‘honor’ and what role does it play in society? (4) what is property and what does it mean to own property? (5) what is marriage and so forth?

Now, these are very good questions because they ask us to think critically about ourselves and our cultural beliefs and assumptions, which is what religious freedom and values-education is all about. But, I doubt that thinking critically about our cultural beliefs and assumptions is the goal of the proponents of Texas Senate Bill 1515 and similar propositions. But then, these self-proclaimed supporters of our “Judeo-Christian” tradition are not reading the Decalogue through “Judeo” eyes.  I am not even sure that they are reading them through Christian ones, other than their own idiosyncratic version of Christianity.

But still, the sense of living in a culture that is not only changing but is being morally and spiritually unmoored is real. As individuals, there is great value in looking to our own cultural and religious heritages for guidance in troubling times. With a little more effort, the supporters of Texas Senate Bill 1515 could have found biblical insights that honor our nation’s cultural and spiritual diversity as well as “remind students all across Texas of the importance of the fundamental foundation of America” that do not reflect the narrow theological vision of one spiritual tradition in our country.

In the Gospels, when Jesus was asked to summarize the Law, he drew upon his Jewish roots and answered the question in the same way as other Jewish teachers of the era would have. He condensed the depth and breadth of Jewish ethical and legal tradition into two statements, the Double Commandment–loving God and loving one’s fellow human being–based on Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, respectively (Matthew 22:24-40). These principles are fundamental not only to the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious traditions and those traditions that grow out of them but are part of the general spiritual inheritance of humanity.

The first half of the Double Commandment–loving God–is problematic, so I would not suggest posting it. There is no shared understanding of who or what God might be or how best to describe what is meant by divinity or how to engage with the Divine. There are also many who find suggested theologies inadequate or unattractive and, therefore, are not moved to engage with the idea of God in building their moral and spiritual lives. As real as God may feel to those who experience the Divine in their lives, that reality is not shared by all and the second half of the Double Commandment requires us to honor their understanding of the world.

The second part–loving one’s fellow human being–does have a universal quality. The “Golden Rule” in various formulations is fundamental to religious and secular ethical systems over time and space. A poster reminding people to love one another might very well be a good idea. Better than that, exploring with students the concept of mutual love and respect would not only connect them to our shared fundamental spiritual values, but would show them how to work with others from diverse backgrounds in building a community grounded in cooperation, respect, responsibility, and love.

While we cannot go back to a world that really never existed, we can imagine going forward to a more peaceful, more open, more generous, and more loving one. To do this, we need to find ways to engage with this hope.  Studying, discussing and exploring ways to express the belief in the “Golden Rule,” the principle of mutual love, is a good way to begin.

This will no doubt be challenging. It requires us to see ourselves in others, to imagine the stranger as our friend, to respect our neighbor’s self-understanding, and to celebrate the diversity of creation. It asks us to be able to listen carefully to voices other than our own, to allow ourselves and others to repent, to be able to forgive and to be willing to learn from our mistakes.

Biblically, love is not merely an interior emotional state. The commandment to love is not directed immediately toward the heart. To love another is to act in loving ways, that is, to show support, to be willing to assist, to be committed to listen, and to be present, respectful, generous and kind.  These are talents we all have.  We merely have to be trained to use them.

Hanging a poster celebrating the “Golden Rule” is clearly not sufficient. But, keeping the principle in the front of our minds as we teach our children and interact with each other is a good idea. Learning to reflect on the principle of mutual love and respect before we speak or act will enable us to engage with each other as we attempt to build a more loving community and, even in our discussion of the Decalogue, the Ten Statements.

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Featured photo credits: The Ten Commandments monument on the Texas Capitol grounds in Austin (Ariel Min/The Texas Tribune).

 The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of iPub Global Connection.