The Ten Commandments in U.S. Law
First(ish) commandment: “I am the Lord thy god.” No wonder Jews argue so much if they think this is some kind of a commandment, because then pretty much any statement is a commandment and I will be damned if I am gonna be commanded around by your statements about who you are.
First(ish) commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The first amendment goes against this by making Americans free to practice whatever religion they choose.
Second(ish) commandment: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image[...]” Of course this is just a silly commandment and has no comparable law or right. However there were a bunch of Christians who wanted to keep the graven image of the Ten commandments in several court houses despite that only 3 of the 10 commandments have comparable laws.
Third(ish) commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain[...]” Well there is nothing about not being able to take the Lord’s name in vain, but there is something about the freedom of speech which would allow it.
Fourth(ish) commandment: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Another not so commanding sounding commandment, more like a suggestion. Doesn’t say how to keep it holy, only that you should remember to do it. Has no comparable laws or rights except that depending on the religion that you follow, the Sabbath Day will fall on a different day of the week.
Fifth(ish) commandment: “Honour thy father and thy mother[...]” Yet another weak commandment that sounds more like advice. For those keeping track that is about five commandments that have no comparable rights or laws in the U.S..
Sixth(ish) commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” Pretty close to the law about murdering, but self defense in the law is alright. And apparently stoning people to death is alright in the bible if enough people feel ok about it. I will say this one is close enough to the anti-murder laws. So one out of six commandments have a similar law in the U.S..
Seventh(ish) commandment: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” While this is a very decent moral code to follow, there are no U.S. laws against it. One out of seven.
Eighth(ish) commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.” Ah, this is a law. No theft is also a pretty decent moral. So two out of eight.
Ninth(ish) commandment: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” Ah, another one. Of course this really is only a big deal in court but still matches pergury. Three out of nine.
Tenth(ish) commandment: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife[...]” Yeah, no comparable law any where about thinking about stuff.
Eleventh(ish) commandment: “Thou shalt not covet [...] any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” Still no laws against thinking about stuff. So we end there at three out of ten commandments that are laws or rights in the U.S..
So why, if not even half of the ten commandments are laws (and the ones that are are not very religious ones), do people think the ten commandments have such an influence on the American Justice system? Don’t kill, don’t steal and don’t lie in court are very common laws anywhere even before Christianity came to be.
There are so many more good rights and laws that come to mind that have no base in religion and are in great opposition to what religious followers wanted: Habeas corpus, free speech, freedom of religion, the right to privacy, no torturing and the right to a due process and to be judged by a jury of peers. All of those last rights and laws I listed have been (at one time or another) prevented or opposed by religious people.
Of course there are other laws from the bible that make their way into U.S. law: Selling your daughter to cover a debt, stone to death children that disobey their parents, eye for an eye (unless the man who lost his eye first is a slave, then he just gets to go free), its OK to kill slaves as long its a long painful death, if some one picks up sticks on the sabbath then kill him… and many, many more awesome biblical laws.