2008 Woodie Awards
Letter to the Editor: "Commanding the Kids"
Issue date: 3/25/05 Section: Opinions
- Page 1 of 1
Dear Editor:
I wanted to respond very briefly to Jami Furo's "Commanding the Kids" (March 11), especially the very common assertion that "the Ten Commandments, except for the first two, apply to everyone."
Let me first put aside the question of whether one can pick and choose commandments (not really) and get right to my main point. If you are referring to the Ten Commandments as a segment of Bronze-Age Hebraic poetry that is of extraordinary historical and cultural importance, then yes they apply to every member of the human species. However, the commandments are put in a totally different context when hung in a public building in which one day I may stand before a judge with my life in the balance.
In this case the old scripture is political through & through. Many Atheists, agnostics, and deeply religious people of all faiths still subscribe to some version of the 300 year Enlightenment project that pulled humanity out of the middle-ages with its inquisitions, religious wars, and burnings at the stake. To us, giving a contemporary legal & political status to this document-even if symbolic - is not merely insulting but a direct attack on us as individuals & community members.
Furthermore, the assertion that this text is the urtext (original founding text) of human civilizations implies that the 4 billion people who do not follow Western religious traditions are non-civilized. This assertion is a white supremacy view that has come back into fashion having ruled most of the 19th & 20th centuries. To me, the ethical philosophical underpinnings of the commandments are oppressive because morality is dictated from above, and I'm painfully reminded that individualism remains enslaved under gods & masters.
The Pope, of course, does not agree and has recently published a book lamenting the ills of our times, and locates the source of the problem with the Enlightenment precisely because it transferred ethical responsibility from the Church to individuals. As we brace ourselves for the challenges of the 21st century, I am proud to be part of THAT problem.
So do the right thing... the trick is figuring out for yourself what that is.
Benjamin Balak, Ph.D.
Faculty Advisor,
Understanding Secularism
Assistant Professor of
Economics
I wanted to respond very briefly to Jami Furo's "Commanding the Kids" (March 11), especially the very common assertion that "the Ten Commandments, except for the first two, apply to everyone."
Let me first put aside the question of whether one can pick and choose commandments (not really) and get right to my main point. If you are referring to the Ten Commandments as a segment of Bronze-Age Hebraic poetry that is of extraordinary historical and cultural importance, then yes they apply to every member of the human species. However, the commandments are put in a totally different context when hung in a public building in which one day I may stand before a judge with my life in the balance.
In this case the old scripture is political through & through. Many Atheists, agnostics, and deeply religious people of all faiths still subscribe to some version of the 300 year Enlightenment project that pulled humanity out of the middle-ages with its inquisitions, religious wars, and burnings at the stake. To us, giving a contemporary legal & political status to this document-even if symbolic - is not merely insulting but a direct attack on us as individuals & community members.
Furthermore, the assertion that this text is the urtext (original founding text) of human civilizations implies that the 4 billion people who do not follow Western religious traditions are non-civilized. This assertion is a white supremacy view that has come back into fashion having ruled most of the 19th & 20th centuries. To me, the ethical philosophical underpinnings of the commandments are oppressive because morality is dictated from above, and I'm painfully reminded that individualism remains enslaved under gods & masters.
The Pope, of course, does not agree and has recently published a book lamenting the ills of our times, and locates the source of the problem with the Enlightenment precisely because it transferred ethical responsibility from the Church to individuals. As we brace ourselves for the challenges of the 21st century, I am proud to be part of THAT problem.
So do the right thing... the trick is figuring out for yourself what that is.
Benjamin Balak, Ph.D.
Faculty Advisor,
Understanding Secularism
Assistant Professor of
Economics