Expert: Austin Cline - 9/29/2008

Question
My question is do you think that the ten commandments should be the law? Why are some people against this, seeing as how a lot of the laws already mimic the ten commandments(i.e. thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal) and few people would dispute that other things like adultery for example are immoral and harmful to society. Also, polls have shown that the majority of Americans consider themselves Christian. Since we live in a democracy, shouldn't the majority get to decide what our laws should be? Thanks.

Helen

Answer
"My question is do you think that the ten commandments should be the law?"

No, they shouldn't be law. The government has no authority to tell people to be nice to their parents or to not covet things. How would you even enforce such laws? It's also not true that a lot of laws "mimic" the Ten Commandments:

http://atheism.about.com/od/tencommandments/a/americanlaw.htm

Just because something is immoral doesn't mean that the government should put you in prison for doing it. Some people believe eating pork is immoral, so should that be a crime?

Besides, the Ten Commandments are Jewish laws, not Christian laws. What happened to Jesus?

http://atheism.about.com/od/tencommandments/a/noahidelaws.htm

"Also, polls have shown that the majority of Americans consider themselves Christian. Since we live in a democracy, shouldn't the majority get to decide what our laws should be?"

A democracy is about more than just majoritarian voting:

http://atheism.about.com/od/bookreviews/fr/FirstDemocracy.htm
http://atheism.about.com/b/2005/04/15/ending-the-filibuster-democracy-vs-majorit...

Since the First Commandment is "thou shalt have no other gods before me," making that law would criminalize all religions other than Judaism and Christianity (and maybe Islam, depending on interpretation). Taking away basic rights from people because of their religion is no better than throwing people in jail for their race and that's contrary to democracy.