Ten Commandments

In March, the Supreme Court will be taking up cases concerning the public display of the Ten Commandments. Many of those who support the displays state that they are the foundation of our laws. In my opinion, if the Ten Commandments were truly the foundation of our country's law, then our laws should reflect most, if not all, of the commandments. But if we review the Ten Commandments, we find that only a few are actually codified as law.

Four of the commandments are clearly purely religious and would conflict with the 1st Amendment if enacted as law:

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

As for the rest:

Honour thy father and thy mother.
There are no laws against being a smartmouth to your parents.

Thou shalt not kill.
Yes, illegal.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Not illegal, but detrimental to your marriage and divorce case.

Thou shalt not steal.
Yes, illegal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness ...
It's only illegal to lie in court. You tell your wife you love her new hairdo or clothes even if you don't.

Thou shalt not covet ...
You can covet away all you want. It's only illegal if you act on it.

As you can see only 2 or 3 of these commandments are actually in our law. Hardly a case for being the foundation of our legal system. Additionally, several aspects are missing such as rape, assault, public drunkenness, and child molestation to name a few. Apparently these weren't important enough to include in the Ten Commandments. I think that time would be better spent if politicians and judges spent more time enacting better laws and effectively implemented them, rather than trying to convince us of the falsehood that this country was founded on the Ten Commandments.