States like Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas are passing laws to require the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Not sure how all this is going to play out, considering the ongoing court challenges, as many believe this is a violation of the First Amendment.

But this blog post is not about the legality of a state requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools. What I want to know, why do they want to do this? 

Seriously, why do many government officials—primarily in red states—want to post the Ten Commandments in the schools? What do they hope to accomplish? And have they even read the Ten Commandments? 

The First Commandant says, “I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

That might be a little problematic; while Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) embrace the Ten Commandments, and theoretically the same god, all religions and belief systems in our country aren’t Abrahamic. In fact, our Vice President’s wife is Hindu. In the Hindu religion they recognize other gods and goddesses. So, will an observant student assume the Vice President’s wife is a sinner?

I also find it ironic that the people quick to ban books, because they don’t want their children to read about how Billy has two moms, have no problem with a poster where one of the rules is about not committing adultery.

I wonder, when one of the young children asks their teacher what adultery means, what exactly is the teacher supposed to say? In some Christian religions they believe anyone who is divorced and remarries is committing adultery. So, depending on how someone explains this rule to little Suzie, whose parents happen to be divorced and remarried to new spouses, she might go home thinking Mommy and Daddy are adulterers.

What will the teacher tell his or student who asks, what does it mean to covet your neighbor’s wife?

And what about the rule telling us to keep the Lord’s Day holy? Does that just mean going to church, or not watching football on Sunday, too? For the kids who don’t go to church, will they go home believing they are sinners? Is that what the people who are pushing this idea of posting the Ten Commandments want? Do they want to guilt a generation of children into begging their parents to attend church?  Sounds a little like indoctrination to me.

Some of the other rules aren’t so problematic, such as telling us not to lie, kill, steal, and honoring our parents. 

But I must admit, I’m anxious to see how high school students respond to the posting of the Ten Commandments, especially if they are anything like I was in high school. When I was an upperclassman in high school, I looked forward to the annual term paper, unlike many of my classmates. Of course, this meant I wanted an interesting topic. And now with the Internet—something I didn’t have for research when I was a high school student—how fun to write a term paper where I document which of the commandments high profile politicians broke. I argue our current president has broken at least nine.

So, what is the point of posting the Ten Commandments at schools?

Is it to bully and intimidate children whose families don’t worship in the same way these Christians do?

Is it to inspire better behavior from students? Yet, I am not sure how. If anything, it will list rules they can easily see people of power break daily and publicly, so what exactly does that teach them? That rules are not for everyone? That rules are to be broken? What?

I personally believe the only way we teach our children how to behave is by setting an example.

Growing up, my parents taught by example. They displayed empathy, worked hard, treated people generously, and showed us love. I didn’t steal from stores because I was afraid that I would get caught and Dad would whip my butt with a belt; I didn’t steal because I never wanted my parents to be disappointed in me, plus they instilled in me that it was simply wrong.   

My parents taught by example, not by physical abuse, and not by posting a list of rules on the wall of our home. And if they did post rules, they wouldn’t be breaking them.

If we want to reduce violent crimes in this country and raise students to treat their classmates and teachers kindly, we need to teach empathy, not post religious doctrine on school walls, listing rules that many of those in power routinely break.

So yeah, to me it’s unclear as to the motive behind wanting to post the Ten Commandments in schools.