Displaying the Ten Commandments in School?

The current cause célèbre of many conservative American Evangelical Christians is the displaying of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. NPR via The Associated Press recently reported that Louisiana will require the 10 Commandments displayed in every public school classroom. Republican Governor Jeff Landry signed the legislation passed by the GOP led state legislature which requires the Decalogue to be prominently displayed in all public classrooms from kindergarten through twelfth grade and in all state funded universities. As with so many other measures endorsed by the Christian Right, the faithful simply cannot understand why anyone could possibly have a problem with displaying the Ten Commandments.

Predictably, NPR reported that Donald Trump endorsed the Louisiana law before a group of cheering Evangelical Christians. Earlier, he had posted on social media that “I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT — HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG???” This from a man who has openly disobeyed those commandments! Of course, the irony and hypocrisy involved in the former president's endorsement of the public display of the Ten Commandments passes without notice or mention among most of his supporters.

Seriously, let's try to objectively consider this for just a moment. Disciples of Jesus Christ endorsing the public display of the basis of God's covenant with Israel! Why not the Two Great Commandments which Jesus said comprehended the Ten and was the basis of the New Covenant in him? Moreover, how many Christians do you know who have been married more than once, cheated on their income tax, coveted their neighbor's new house or car, had an affair with their neighbor, or who has remembered to keep the Sabbath holy? In short, the blatant hubris and hypocrisy has got to be a stench in God's nostrils!

What about the way that Catholics number and view the Decalogue? Will these displays accommodate their beliefs? What about folks of other faiths? What about those Jews who believe that the Decalogue was given by YHWH to them - that it wasn't intended for Gentiles? If the majority of Americans claim to be Christians, does that justify trampling on the sensibilities of the minority? What about the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution? What about the separation of Church and State?

I don't know about you, but this entire subject brings something to my mind that Jesus once said to the scribes and Pharisees a long time ago. According to the Gospel of Matthew, he said: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (Matthew 23:25-28, ESV) What do you think?