I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have strange gods before me.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.
Honor thy mother and father.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet they neighbor?s wife.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor?s goods.
I have a few direct questions for you: Is it such a bad thing to think about not killing, not stealing, not lying, and not committing adultery? Is it so bad to talk about honoring one?s parents? Or to think about a power greater than oneself -- about God or some higher deity? Or to set aside just one day a week as a spiritual day, separate from the material strivings of the other six days?
Attempting to live by these moral and religious values is a worthy endeavor. No one of us is perfect; that role is for God alone. But if we strive for better values in our day-to-day lives, if we seek to meet the age-old standards of goodness and honesty, if we try to help our neighbors in all we do, won?t we be better people, even if our imperfections cause us to fall short?
I should think that anyone who strolls the grounds of the Texas state capitol, and for one moment stops to read the Ten Commandments on the monument that Mr. Abbott is trying to keep in place, will be the better for it. Moral commandments -- like most spiritual thoughts in this day and age -- seem too few and far removed from our usual toils and tribulations. But deep down inside we all have a desire to live as better citizens, better spouses, better parents, better co-workers, and better friends. An occasional reminder as to how to do this cannot be a bad thing. No -- keeping the Ten Commandments in the public square must perforce be a good thing.