Return of the Ten Commandments Debate

[Raf]

quote:

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Originally posted by johniam:

Raf: During Reagan's funeral days it was brought up that he believed that God put him in the presidency for a purpose. This HAD to affect decisions he made as President. Does this mean to you that his presidency was now flawed?

Just how do we separate a person from their governing values?

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You can't, any more than you can prevent a judge from praying before he makes a decision. But if he makes a decision based solely on Biblical principles, regardless of the law involved (or against the law involved), he'd be overturned: and rightly so.

There are some "separations" that are not reasonable. Telling a man he can't pray before making a decision is unreasonable. Telling a government not to tell me who God is, whether I can have another, whether I can take His name in vain, and what day to worship him is NOT unreasonable.

[Raf]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mark:

Would you all who support removal of the ten commandments from public display have a different opinion if they were on display with other sources of law? (such as the magna carta, constitution, scales (representing justice), etc...in other words, acknowledging a historical connection between the ten commandments, along with other precursors, in forming the modern body of law?

I'm just curious if the argument is with their excultation or even their presence in/ on a public builidng at all?

Thanks.

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I would not be opposed to their display in such circumstances, as I have stated earlier in other threads. If the motivation is to show that the American legal system has historic roots, then I concur: there are things in the Magna Carta that don't apply to the American legal system. There are other legal foundations of our system, and the 10 commandments definitely fall into that category.

In the Roy Moore case, this was not what was happening. Roy Moore put that monument up as an act of personal worship to God. Removing it, he said, was disobedience to God. This was a clear crossing of the line. Other incidents are far, far less clear.

[markomalley]

OK. I can buy that. Thanks for the info.