Perhaps, Oh wise One, you could explain how "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" got twisted into "separation of church and state", and how that prevents the court from displaying the Ten Commandments, which are recognized by Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and form the basis for modern law.

Classic Straw Man.

Can you show any non-Biblical or non-Christian Reconstructionist links that support your premise that modern law is based on the Ten Commandments? That is a false premise. The first four are strictly religious in nature and have no place in our legal system:

And what does this one have to do with modern day law?
Perhaps no. 5 is a nice moral precept, but certainly nothing to form the basis of our laws.

The next commandments do seem to be universal laws since they involve crimes against another, although adultery seems again to be more of a moral concept rather than an act of violence or fraud:
Not coveting your neighbor's wife and house are next and these form no basis for our legal system.

So tell me -why do some say the Ten Commandments form the basis for modern law? This is a stretch of the imagination at the very least.

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Walter Mondale: "George Bush doesn't have the manhood to apologize." George Bush: "Well, on the manhood thing, I'll put mine up against his any time."

um, while many of us think adultery is more of a moral issue rather than law, just remember how many times recently (quite a few) we have heard news reports of a family or husband who is a muslim kill or stone their wife for adultery? this isnt just a 10 commandment issue (an while being a christian, realize this is rather archaic. i do not consider it to be a 'sin'. although its a great way to get yourself into a nasty divorce!)

of course i believe that many to most states actually did have adultery as being illegal (some have changed, and of course this is not, and never could be, enforced in this day and age). so that may be where some people are getting this. even so, if 40% constitute similarities to current laws, that is a fairly decent number...it can be argued either way

And that 40% is not any more unique to Christianity than the rule against adultery is, so it is false to say that our legal system is based on the 10 Commandments.

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Walter Mondale: "George Bush doesn't have the manhood to apologize." George Bush: "Well, on the manhood thing, I'll put mine up against his any time."

For the most part, my mother does a good job of walking the walk. She says some silly things about gay people from time to time, but she doesn't go out of her way to get in their way. My sister, now a Mormon, walks the walk exceedingly well. She does get offended when I go on an anti-religion tirade & has told me she doesn't like that I'm raising my children in a secular fashion, but again, she doesn't get in my way (or anyone else's for that matter).

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Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart

We've already talked about the Ten Commandments a lot in the other thread and it has generated quite a bit of discussion about the idea of separation of church and state. But the application of this idea varies from person to person. Some will say that government should keep its hands off entirely; others say that government should help religion but not endorse it, and other days I can walk into my local Baptist church and hear the pastor actually say "There IS no separation between church and state. There's only a FICTIONAL separation between us and God." (direct quote)

I hope it's safe to assume that everyone here understands the separation and why it's necessary. But even so, let's delve into some more specific concerns and see how the separation is playing out today. The following is a string of opinion-based questions for you to answer, to see where you stand on this crucial issue:

1. Is it right for the government to grant any sort of tax exemption to a religious institution (because of it being a religious institution)?

2. Should public school students be taught religious ideas in the classroom (when it's not a philosophy or religion class)?

3. Does the spreading and enforcement of God's message justify hate crimes such as the protesting of soldiers' funerals and the bombing of abortion clinics? If so, how is it any different from suicide bombing for Allah? If not, should we give any legal pardon to these people because they did it for religion?

4. Should a person's religious affiliation have any effect on his/her campaign for a public office? I know most people have a reflex: "No. Freedom of religion - it doesn't matter." But really think about it for a moment. If you elect somebody who believes that the Earth is 6,000 years old and is bound to end very soon or who doesn't believe in global warming or evolution or who doesn't care about the advancement of science and human knowledge, those seemingly harmless religious beliefs may well play into policymaking and could harm America. Do religious beliefs matter for a political candidate?

5. The documentary Jesus Camp showed a horrible but real example of religious indoctrination of children in America. Professor Richard Dawkins (I assume everyone knows who he is) firmly believes that religious indoctrination of children is comparable to child abuse because a child of that age is too young to understand the implications of that religion. Visit a local church's "Sunday school" and check out the children's ministry. Is this brainwashing? Is it acceptable to bring kids into a religion at such a young age? Most importantly: should it be legal for parents/guardians to FORCE their child to attend church on Sundays?

I will post my answers to these questions a little later - first I'll let some other people have the floor.

I saw a History Channel show last week on this and what got me was for the movie, with C. Heston
The Ten commandants. Walt Disney had thousands of the 10 Commandants made and sent to all 48 states for display, in court houses, schools and city parks. In many locals of each state. But that doesn't account for all of them. Just most. But the Surpreme Court was built with Moses only showing the last 5 commandments being displayed leaving out the moral codes.

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Yea can't keep the words of your great leader.

Prophet Muhammad - “Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.”

In another thread a long time ago, somebody was speaking out against abortion. I stepped up and challenged him, briefly outlining his stance. Just to preface my own argument, I quickly mentioned that he believes an embryo is a "future child" and has the rights of a child, to make my counterargument more clear. I went on with 3 or 4 more paragraphs arguing against his stance and eagerly awaited a response since I had poured a lot of time into that thread. When he finally responded, all he seemed to notice from my essay of an argument was that I misquoted him! He made a great deal of effort to insist that he NEVER said "future baby." He briefly commented on another segment of one of my many arguments and left it at that. No response to my arguments, no acknowledgment of any of the other stuff I posted.

If you will look at the post I made and all you get from it is "IT WAS A COURTHOUSE, NOT A COURTROOM YA DUMMY" then you've completely missed my point. I don't mind you disagreeing with me - in fact, I want to generate discussion. Yes, I'm capable of error - I said courtroom instead of courthouse. Whoops. Now, please, respond to the rest of my argument.

"The number,the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, & the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church from the State." - James Madison (Father of the Constitution)

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state." - Thomas Jefferson (author of the Declaration of Independence)

"In a free government the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases will depend on the number of interests and sects; and this may be presumed to depend on the extent of country and number of people comprehended under the same government. This view of the subject must particularly recommend a proper federal system to all the sincere and considerate friends of republican government, since it shows that in exact proportion as the territory of the Union may be formed into more circumscribed Confederacies, or States, oppressive combinations of a majority will be facilitated; the best security, under the republican forms, for the rights of every class of citizen, will be diminished; and consequently the stability and independence of some member of the government, the only other security, must be proportionally increased." - Federalist #51 (usually attributed to James Madison)

"No qualification of wealth, of birth, or religious faith, or of civil profession is permitted to fetter the judgement or disappoint the inclination of the people." - Federalist #57 (usually attributed to Madison, but I've also seen Hamilton given credit)

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Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart