The Ten Non-Commandments

Can you be good without God?

Art By Monica Brinkman

We all know who the late Charlton Heston is, and you likely understand his connection to the topic of the Ten Commandments. The 1956 film starring Charlton Heston as Moses was nominated for seven Academy Awards and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. The Ten Commandments became one of the greatest box office successes of all time and is the eighth-highest-grossing film.

Jeff Landry, the Governor of Louisiana, is at the center of a firestorm about the recent ruling, making the display of the Ten Commandments mandatory in public schools. There is a connection between Heston and Landry, which I will make later.

In Case You Live in a Cave

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave or have no internet, you’ve heard about the ruling in which Louisiana becomes the first state to require that Ten Commandments be displayed in public classrooms. The legislation that Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law on Wednesday requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities.

Opponents questioned the law’s constitutionality and vowed to challenge it in court. Proponents said the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance. Louisiana State officials argued that the Ten Commandments were “foundational documents of our state and national government.”

Republican Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, a Catholic, wants his state to be at the forefront of a national movement to advance legislation with a Christian worldview, and argued that the idea of “separation of church and state” does not exist in the First Amendment of the Constitution.

The Ten Commandments law was a significant victory because it was the first such mandate to be passed in the country in over 40 years. Lawmakers in Oklahoma, Mississippi and West Virginia introduced similar bills this year, but none of them passed.

The ruling only serves to exasperate growing fears that the upcoming presidential election is becoming a showdown about instituting Christian Nationalism.

A few milestones in Ten Commandments rulings include:

• The issue of governmental sponsorship of public display of the Ten Commandments first came before the U.S. Supreme Court in Stone v. Graham (1980). The court ruled that a Kentucky law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms violated the separation of church and state.

• In 2001, newly-elected Chief Justice of the Alabama State Supreme Court, Roy Moore installed in the lobby of the Judicial Building a monument of the Ten Commandments. Shortly thereafter, a lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. A federal district court ruled against the Chief Justice, requiring him to remove the monument, which he refused. The court ordered to proceed with enforcement of the ruling in Glassroth v. Moore (11th Cir. 2003), and 10 days later a judicial ethics panel in Alabama removed him from his seat on the state court.

• In 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky sued two Kentucky counties for displaying framed copies of the Ten Commandments. The case moved to the Supreme Court, which affirmed that the purpose of the displays was to advance religion — a violation of the First Amendment. The Court invoked the Lemon test from Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), explaining that the purpose analysis in that test is meant to ensure government neutrality regarding religion.

• Also in 2005 (showing the divided court views on the subject) in Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005), the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that a monument depicting the Ten Commandments in an Austin, Texas, public park did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The court ruling was based on the idea that the Ten Commandments itself, while religious, can represent “a secular moral message” and in some contexts “a historical message.”

What are the Ten Commandments?

The Ten Commandments are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, are given by Yahweh to Moses. The text of the Ten Commandments was dynamic in ancient Israel and appears in three markedly distinct versions in the Bible:

• Exodus 20:2–17

• Deuteronomy 5:6–21

• Ritual Decalogue of Exodus 34:11–26

According to the Book of Exodus in the Torah, the Ten Commandments were revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai, told by Moses to the Israelites in Exodus 19:25 and inscribed by the finger of God on two tablets of stone.

The Ten Commandments concern matters of fundamental importance in Judaism and Christianity:

• the greatest obligation (to worship only God)

• the greatest injury to a person (murder)

• the greatest injury to family bonds (adultery)

• the greatest injury to commerce and law (bearing false witness)

• the greatest inter-generational obligation (honor to parents)

• the greatest obligation to community (truthfulness)

• the greatest injury to movable property (theft)

A reasonable person could affirm the bulk of these directives. Right? I think most of us would likely say that murder, adultery, lying and theft are not the way to get along as human beings. But it’s that first idea of devotion to God that is the problem. The first four of the Ten Commandments relate to an obligation to God:

Commandment 1: You shall have no other gods before Me. (The obligation to devote oneself to the God of Judaism and/or Christianity.)

Commandment 2: You shall not make idols. (The obligation not to imbue any person or thing above the preeminence of the God of Judaism and/or Christianity.)

Commandment 3: You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. (The obligation not to disrespect in speech the God of Judaism and/or Christianity.)

Commandment 4: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (The obligation to devote every Sunday to honoring the God of Judaism and/or Christianity.)

You see the problem here, right? What if you don’t believe in God, which is a growing number of people in the United States. Or what if you’re Buddhist, which in the U.S. is also on the rise. And even if you believe in God, which “God” exactly are we talking about? The classical Christian theistic God? What about other views of God such as Deism, Pantheism and Panentheism? It’s a hot mess.

There is wide disagreement on how integral the Ten Commandments are to the founding of America, which includes the view that biblical influences on America’s founding are exaggerated, if not invented.

<Begin High School American Government Lesson>

In the United States, we pride ourselves on “freedom of religion” to worship God (or worship no God) as we see fit. Our constitution declares different religions may exist along side of each other in peaceful coexistence. The doctrine of the “separation of church and state” means that the government takes no position or alignment with any particular religion. The only position on religion the constitution takes is the protection of any religious infringement upon another religion which denies that particular religion the right to the “freedom to worship as they see fit.” This not only applies to the physical institution of a given religion, but also to the conceptualization of their religious ideas which is the profound foundation for the structure of that particular religion.

When a set of ideas is elevated to a place of dominance to define the scope of religion, as an absolute, this is a violation of the constitutional presupposition that maintains the position of the separation of church and state. Just because the founding fathers held to a personal and particular religious persuasion, does not mean, or does it intend that their belief in a particular religion should be the model of which the government should follow, promote or protect.

The founding fathers did not dictate a particular religion to be recognized in the constitution, is evidence of their neutrality on the subject. The founding fathers were not anti-religion. They definitely were opposed to the merger of religion and government. They definitely were against a state-sponsored religion. This is clear and beyond doubt.

<This Concludes High School American Government Lesson>

I offer a few resources for exploring the Ten Commandments and their relationship to American government and universal values. I hope this list strikes the balance of scrutinizing the idea of the Ten Commandments as evidence of America as a “Christian nation”, but acknowledging the universal value of the Ten Commandments, regardless of one’s religion or beliefs.

• The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American by Andrew Seidel

• The Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text by Michael Coogan

• Inventing a Christian America: The Myth of the Religious Founding by Steven Green

• No Other Gods: The Politics of the Ten Commandments by Ana Levy-Lyons

• The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life by David Hazony

Steven Green also wrote a useful article in the Journal of Law and Religion, entitled, The Fount of Everything Just and Right? The Ten Commandments as a Source of American Law.

The Non-Religious Ten Commandments

Over the years, there have been many alternatives written to the Ten Commandments. British philosopher Bertrand Russell devised his own list of Ten Commandments. The late Christopher Hitchens has his own list of what he called the New Commandments, which were expounded upon in Vanity Fair.

The picture above depicts the Atheists’ New Ten Commandments, which are the ten winning beliefs of a crowdsourcing competition to rethink the Ten Commandments. The contest drew more than 2,800 submissions from 18 countries and 27 U.S. states. Winners were selected by a panel of judges.

An alternative to the Ten Commandments cited by Evolutionary Biologist Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion are:

1. Do not do to others what you would not want them do to you.

2. In all things, strive to cause no harm.

3. Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect.

4. Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.

5. Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.

6. Always seek to be learning something new.

7. Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.

8. Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.

9. Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.

10. Question everything.

The cartoon commentaries on the recent Louisiana ruling make some good points, I’ll mention two.

#1 - For our political leaders, following the moral and ethical admonitions of the Ten Commandments is a far better victory than displaying them in public.

#2 - Laws that are enforced to protect the common good and safety is a reasonable function of government but the cultivation of individual virtue and character requires deep conviction and commitment.

Belief in God Good

Let me ask you a question: Can you be good without God?

It seems a fairly simple six-word question. It also opens a Pandora’s box about the basis of morality and ethics. In my day, I taught many Ethics classes. I still have the textbooks I used in my classes.

Yes, that’s my third cup of coffee before 7:00am. Yes, that a Bertrand Russell book next to the coffee. Yes, that is Lily asleep on the couch.

Most Americans say it’s not necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Even among people who are religiously affiliated, most do not think it is necessary to believe in God to be moral.

The topic of morality and ethics is obviously too big for this piece, but I plan to cover it in future articles. A few general considerations worth noting, relative to this discussion on the Ten Commandments are:

Natural Morality verses Transcendent Morality

Natural morality refers to morality that is based on human nature, rather than acquired from societal norms or religious teachings. Transcendent morality posits absolute and fixed morals and ethics based upon a transcendent source.

Theological Voluntarism (or Divine Command Theory)

Theological Voluntarism or Divine Command Theory is an example of Transcendent morality. It asserts that moral principles are set by God, God commands them; and God doesn’t change and doesn’t make exceptions, so God’s commandments are fixed and eternal and absolute. What is right is whatever God commands, or whatever God chooses. God doesn’t condemn murder because murder is wrong; rather murder is wrong because God condemns murder. God doesn’t command us to be honest because honesty is good. Honesty is good because God approves of honesty.

Based on this, you might have some greater appreciation why some people would want the Ten Commandments posted in public schools. The argument goes like this:

a. Ethics and morality are necessary for a stable society.

b. God is the basis of all absolute ethics and morality.

c. God revealed the foundation of absolute ethics and morality in the Ten Commandments.

d. Hanging posters of the Ten Commandments in public schools reinforces the proper foundation for a stable society.

I get it. But here’s the problem. The core principle of this approach to ethics and morality is: If God says it then that settles it. If God commands being kind to children, then being kind to children is good. Right?

But let’s say God commanded torturing children. Would torturing children be right? Or what if God commanded genocide, what genocide be good? What if God commanded theocracy. Would theocracy be good? Because in the Bible, depending upon how you read it, God commands all these and worse.

Let’s make this a little more personal. What if your priest or pastor said that God commands you to kill your child, or join a militia to destroy and plunder a nearby neighborhood of Mexican immigrants, or to launch a violent insurrection to establish a theocracy? Would you do it? If God commanded it, wouldn’t you be obligated to?

Let’s say that despite what your priest or pastors says, you know that killing children or a neighborhood of immigrants, is not right. On what basis did you make the judgement? If not “God”, then what?

Moral Naturalism

Moral Naturalism refers to morality that is based on human nature Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is central to many modern conceptions of natural morality, but the concept goes back at least to naturalism.

In The Descent of Man, Darwin argues that moral behavior has outgrown from the animal tendency for empathy through evolution of morality. Darwin asserted that the attitude and skill of cooperation was the most significant trait for humans in the process of natural selection. With respect to our species of Homo sapiens, this involved the cultivation of a variety of social interactions, which we use words such as “morality” or “ethics” to describe.

Darwin wrote:

“Ultimately a highly complex sentiment, having its first origin in the social instincts, largely guided by the approbation of our fellow-men, ruled by reason, self-interest, and in later times by deep religious feelings, confirmed by instruction and habit, all combined, constitute our moral sense or conscience.”

In a nutshell, the naturalist view asserts that the moral and ethical principles we uphold in social relations are ultimately determined by critical thinking, reason, recognition of the law of cause and effect, and instinct to survive and thrive.

Because I am not able to discuss the topic of ethics and morality in more detail, here are a few useful resources to explore:

• Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe by Greg Epstein

• Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky

• A Short History of Ethics by Alasdair MacIntyre

• The Ethics by Baruch Spinoza

• An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume

• Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

• Naturalism and Religion by Kai Nielsen

I wrote a book I never published titled, How to Have a Great Day Without Religion. Each paid subscriber receives this book as well as other goodies. Part Two of the book is, “The Essential Pathways of a Life Lived Well”. One of those pathways is, “Being a Virtuous Person”.

In the book I write:

“We often derive our sense of right and wrong from external sources of authority such as God and religion. Another outside influence that shapes our orientation toward morality is familial and cultural traditions, and expectations. Some people derive their sense of right and wrong from a law and order framework – right behavior is obeying the law because it is mandatory.

In all these examples, there is always the long arm of an outside authority – God, the law, family, culture – instructing what you “should” do. Therefore, many people eventually “rebel” against authority; they are sick and tired of being incessantly told what they can or cannot do.

What gets lost in these paradigms is the concept that being virtuous is good not because it follows an external standard, code, or authority, but because it is the best thing for you to do for yourself and a pathway for living life well.”

The fact that virtue is central to a happy and fulfilled life is self-evident and based on reason. Virtue is one of the best kept secrets. Without virtue, our individual lives, relationships and society unravels. People are searching for some grand spiritual truth to set them free. Being a virtuous person just doesn’t sound as magnanimous as the trending breakthrough idea, formula or program for success, happiness and enlightenment. And yet, if a person would simply choose and resolutely live any virtue, their lives would be transformed. It’s a well-proven path and principle for a life of well-being.

It should be self-evident to any reflective person that if they cultivate wholesome virtues in their life and abstain from the unwholesome, that their lives will be meaningful, fruitful, rewarding and fulfilling, and yet people are determined to chase after mysterious esoteric truth to liberate them. Look to your mind, speech and actions as a place for cultivating well-being, not the neverlands of abstract truth and secret knowledge.

For example, take one undisputed virtue such as honesty and apply it introspectively and vigorously to yourself and the entirety of your life. For example, radical self-honesty. Being honest about the self-sabotaging self-talk or mental commentary that is governing your life. Being honest about the mask you are wearing in order to be a more real, authentic and human person. Being honest about the toxic people, relationships or behavior you allow in your life. Being honest about the ways you are not caring for yourself. Being honest about your inner people-pleaser who accepts the limitations and expectations others place upon you. Being honest about what’s at the root of your unhappiness and inner suffering.

Or take the virtue of courage and vigorously apply that to the totality of your life - the courage to step out of your comfort zone, the courage to act according to your conviction, the courage to face something difficult in your life, the courage to pursue a passion or dream, the courage to set boundaries, the courage to take responsibility for your life and happiness.

Do you see what I mean? A person could chase the latest self-help program or some esoteric and theoretical truth till the cows come home, when simply and vigorously cultivating virtue in your life could change everything.

How Toxic Religion Thwarts Virtue

Part of my professional work involves religious trauma counseling, which guides and supports people through the process of recovering from the spiritual, mental, psychological and developmental harm incurred through the impact of toxic religion.

Think of religion as a continuum. On one end of the continuum are religious groups that foster healthy and whole well-being, while on the other end are toxic religious groups that damage a person’s mental health and human development. Toxic churches are high-control authoritarian environments where fear and shame are used to demand devotion and conformity. Some toxic religious groups are more obvious to the outside eye, such as an extreme religious cult. Other groups are more subtle, upbeat and contemporary, masking an underlying religious fundamentalism.

The further a religious group is on the continuum of religious toxicity, the greater the damage done in areas of human development. Human development deficits caused by toxic religion include poor critical thinking ability, negative beliefs about self-ability and self-worth, black and white thinking, information and knowledge gaps, and behind schedule on developmental tasks.

Though religion is considered by many to be the greatest force for ethics and morality in the world, there are also several ways that religion can thwart the process of being a virtuous person. I’ll mention a few. To the extent that a religious system teaches the below ideas, it can be an obstacle to the healthy development of ethics, morality and virtue:

• Shame-Based View of Oneself

Toxic religion teaches that human beings are born sinful, have a wicked heart, and need to be saved from themselves. The reasoning behind the religious admonition to be “born again” is because our first human birth produced a flawed and wicked human being. Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of living virtuously.

• Human Powerlessness

The idea that a person is powerless on their own is a hallmark of toxic religion and essentially instills spiritual co-dependency, which is the belief that one is not capable of being whole and happy, or effectively guiding or managing their lives apart from the intervention of God as mediated through religious leaders and structures. Look at the below photo and you get the idea of how toxic religion can function in a person’s life.

You have the choice to cultivate a spirituality that doesn’t require you to be inadequate, powerless, weak, and lacking, but one that empowers you toward strength, vitality, wholeness, and the fulfillment of your highest potentialities and possibilities.

• Spiritual Battle Narrative

Spiritual warfare or Christian demonology is the Christian concept of fighting against the work of preternatural evil forces. It is based on the biblical belief in evil spirits, or demons, that are said to intervene in human affairs in various ways.

Right now there is hatred, division, starvation, violence, poverty, war, oppression, environmental destruction, racism, genocide, and a long list of other maladies that are a result of what WE are doing. It’s NOT Satan – it’s me, it’s you, it’s us. It’s not the “demon of hatred”, “demon of greed”, “ demon of pride”, “demon of envy”, etc.

The reality of evil is an inconvenient truth. The disharmony and chaos in the world corresponds to the disharmony and chaos within ourselves. It was quite inventive for the church to turn the personification of evil into a literal being that we scapegoat for our problems, which lets us off the hook from taking responsibility for the discord all around us. The notion of “spiritual warfare” is a cover for not getting our acts together and living as we could.

• Fear and Obedience

Toxic religion stalls people in the lowest stages of moral development. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development identifies the “preconventional level” of moral development is based upon an obedience and punishment orientation, and a self-interest mindset of consequences and rewards. Toxic religion is based upon the fear of God, obedience to God, and currying divine favor through compliance in order to receive rewards and avoid punishments.

• Human Development Deficits

Toxic religion creates human development deficits by placing blind faith over critical thinking, black and white thinking over complex reasoning, doctrinal devotion over emotional intelligence, and pastoral guidance over mental health support and care. These developmental deficits hampers healthy moral development and reasoning.

The recent Louisiana ruling that requires the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools may have created a situation in which children are being admonished to esteem morality by the institution most to blame for preventing it.

In his book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens wrote,

“We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case. Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it. Ordinary morality is innate.”

Charlton Heston was an Episcopalian, and Governor Jeff Landry is Catholic. Perhaps a belief in God is something that they share in common. It was widely know that Heston respected all religious traditions. Charlton Heston played the lead role as Moses in the 1956 film. Landry asserted after the Louisiana ruling, “If you want to respect the rule of law you've got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”

Moses is considered the most important leader of the Jewish people, the greatest of the Jewish prophets and, according to the Torah , the only person who ever spoke to God face-to-face. He led the Israelites out of slavery and then to Mount Sinai to receive the Torah. From there, he led them on their journey of 40 years through the wilderness until his death just before they entered the land of Israel.

Liberation theology focuses on freeing people from religious, political, social, and economic oppression. Moses is often seen as a central biblical character to liberation theology. He’s the man who stood up to Pharaoh, demanding, “Let my people go.” Moses’ role as a liberator highlights the importance of strong, determined leadership in the pursuit of liberation.

Moses is considered one of the most important religious leaders in world history. He is claimed by the religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Bahai. If Jeff Landry’s Ten Commandments crusade is meant as one more step toward Christian Nationalism, he may not understand Moses at all.

In Summary

• Out of the Ten Commandments, four of them require belief in a biblical God.

• Sometimes religion is the biggest obstacle to instilling the morality it claims to have originated.

• With or without the Ten Commandments we all instinctually know that the Golden Rule is a useful way to proceed in human relations.

• Evoking the name of Moses in requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments would likely piss off Moses and Charlton Heston.

“The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”

- Thomas Paine