Jun 268 min read

They Love Laws - They Have Not Love

Updated: Jun 26

"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

The imposition of the Ten Commandments in Louisiana's schools has provoked a lot of discussion and backlash, and I would like to share some perspective about why that is.

On January 6th, angry, violent Trump supporters led an assault on our Capitol, going so far as to bring rope and a gallows alongside their crosses and Bibles,

to threaten American citizens.

MAGA blatantly do not care that the Ten Commandments state:

"You shall not murder."

The foisting of the ten Commandments on a wider society,

by the same clique who are prepared to vote for a coward who incites his most extreme fans to murderous threats and actual violence,

plus call it pro life,

is repulsive and abusive.

Suffice it to say, the prophets had much to say about such people.

"Woe to those who call evil good."

Had American Christians lived out the law of love during a national reckoning on race, or shown basic ability to care for a neighbor by closing a church building and wearing a mask without entitled whining, maybe Christianity wouldn't be dying out in the United States. The imposition of the Ten Commandments, like other religious efforts lately, is only going to be felt as oppressive, because the majority of Americans don't believe in an abuser-God.

Those imposing the Ten Commandments on US have much to answer for, because they have no intention of actual obedience, but every intention of lording it over everyone else.

I have seen a lot of pieces about Trump and the Ten Commandments, and it's kind of too easy to point out the hypocrisy of the Christian supremacists, who want US to be subject to their laws in our schools. What is really messed up is how they tell US to just get over it and "not look", if we don't agree, when they get so very upset about a Pride flag. Change is hard, but it is inevitable, and if you don't even try to live up to your own standards, woe to you, if you try to impose your standards on others. MAGA Christians owe US repentance, not more oppression.

Trump is an easy target for many articles about his failure to obey, because we all know exactly who and what he is and has ever been, and even fools who claim he is a Christian know he doesn't behave anything like Christ. I'm far more interested in how the folks imposing the Ten Commandments on US are imposing a dead and useless legalism, rather than living out a faithful love, as Jesus appears to have intended. He made love the requirement, suggesting love fulfills God's laws.

You see, a good person, who knows they were foreign and unwelcome once, but who is now welcome and loved, would never discriminate against the foreigner, and certainly not the refugee fleeing violence, like Jesus' family did. This is the context of: "I Am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt" - an experience mostly irrelevant in American history, Manifest Destiny and Doctrine of Discovery heresies be damned, but fully relevant to the salvation stories of the fundamentalists.

The obvious connection to immigrant stories is also valid, and the sad conclusion from MAGA behavior can only be that too many Americans have a twisted attitude of having "got theirs", despite what their previous generations went through, to get there. Should such a godless people be permitted to call themselves Christian? I personally think not. They certainly have no right thinking themselves superior to others by virtue of posting their preferred religious text in public school classrooms.

To illustrate this, let me break down MAGA Christian behavior and character, in light of the Ten Commandments they would impose upon US:

"You shall have no other gods before Me."

It is a violation of the First Amendment to impose the Christian view on the whole nation, and it is an abuse of power . This imposition led to the genocide of Native Americans, which cannot be called pro Life. Right here, the Christians imposing the Ten Commandments are showing their desire for supremacy and their lack of respect for other Americans. That is not love for God or neighbor; it is just egotism.

2. "You shall not make any graven image."

I have attended evangelical churches that believe even a picture of Jesus is idolatry, and to impose this religious belief on the nation would exclude Orthodox Christians and Catholics from the mainstream. And to promote this as an American viewpoint is again, a violation of the First Amendment. Were fundamentalists to enforce these two commandments, they would remove freedoms from the majority of Americans, and even the Christians don't agree on what a graven image entails. Of course, Jesus would suggest that idolatry is more a matter of the heart, but if you are going to take things literally, it gets oppressive right quick, especially if they start judging American hearts and minds for idolatry. Orwellian! A lot of us left Christian groups over increasingly nonsensical and invasive accusations: if these people think this'll bring a revival of church attendance, they are very wrong.

3. "You shall not take the Name of the Lord in vain."

They do this themselves, by forcing their will on US as if it were His. But they want to police US for swearing: that's what this means to them. You see, swearing can be far more offensive to them than say, child sex abuse, rape or domestic violence. Those are terrible things, but how dare you swear at abuse. I kid you not.

4. "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy."

Again, this is nonsensical in a country where even Christians can't agree on what the Sabbath is. It's a dud commandment for Americans. You could say, cool, it's a good principle: give workers at least one day of rest a week. However, the folks, who want US posting the commandments, are the same ones who want to go to church Sunday morning and eat out Sunday afternoon, so I don't know how that would work...

5. "Honor your father and your mother."

So this is a good cultural standard, generally, but we have Mother's Day and Father's Day and plenty of family focus already in our secular culture. We know instinctively it is good to love and respect elders. It is natural and right. The problem, for some Americans, is this has been abused by Christian parents to keep control over their kids, who they have held back from growing up - or even sent to boot camps to shape up! There is a world of deep pain in our country because of abusive parents, and this commandment is used against abuse victims routinely. Maybe we need to have a lot more humble Christian focus on how loving parents are to behave, rather than demanding this authoritarian way.

6. "You shall not murder."

I can't believe Trump voters want this posted, after "Fight For Trump!", "Hang Mike Pence!" and death threats even towards loved ones of anyone who speaks truth plainly.

Their gaslighting is truly repulsive.

7. "You shall not commit adultery."

But apparently sexual abuse is ok: Christian supremacists will routinely cover for the abuser, blame the victim, and place sexual abusers in places of leadership in our highest court, presidency, and churches. I have nothing more to say on this: it is beyond hypocrisy, beyond immorality, it is amoral to post the Ten Commandments like a band-aid, given the wounds these Trump-voters have participated in causing US. They are not sorry.

8. "You shall not steal."

Apparently the newest evangelical standard is that fraud doesn't count, and it's ok to try to steal an election with violence if you can't win in court.

9. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."

But the posters and promoters of the Ten Commandments are totes permitted to call teachers and doctors and experts "Groomers" and get them death threats. ProLife men permit each other to call women grieving miscarriage "baby killers" to keep them in line, if they speak about the complexity of abortion. Yeah, the fundamentalists will bear false witness all they want about everyone else, including smearing decent citizens when we simply tell the truth about Trump's vile character and unrepentant criminality.

I can't even with this one...!

10. "You shall not covet."

Unless you are Trump and you want to boast about how you'll be dating that little girl in ten years. Unless you lose an election and you want to wield power and control over the rest of US, even if it means violence against a neighbor. I could go on. They are consumed with covetousness, they objectify people, and they just won't leave US in peace.

This unrepentant imposition is the total depravity of a rape culture.

The main problem with the posting of the Ten Commandments is not even the overt violations of the First Amendment, but the wicked hearts of these Christian supremacists trying to lord it over US. They have no intention of obeying their own preferred Ten Commandments, they have no desire to actually love their neighbor as Christ did; they just want to insist they are better than all the rest of US, as if that would draw US into their clique. It won't. It only exposes their hard hearts.

Speaking as a Christian, Jesus didn't tell us to follow the law legalistically: He called out people who wielded the law over people to bash them with the Bible rather than love them, as God loves. It was never our place to impose our religion; it was always our responsibility to live a life of love.

Jesus said the whole law-the Ten Commandments and the rest- is summed up in love.

In all their law-making, American fundamentalists have little to no love for their neighbor, and they hold some very deep resentment of anyone they perceive to be an enemy. They have no desire to learn from others, only to accuse. They live in a state of Christian superiority, while supporting people of quite inferior character to the average American!

It is way beyond an insult to the Biblical text, a violation of the First Amendment or basic hypocrisy and gaslighting, it is an offensive attempt at oppression by a bunch of people with zero integrity and thus no authority to demand obedience. They need Jesus: they simply do not understand at all that God's law wasn't meant to be posted on a wall in a classroom, God's law was meant to be lived out in a heart of love for a neighbor, even for one's enemies, by laying itself down in love.

I have yet to see repentance from Christian supremacists for January 6th, let alone their ongoing controlling behavior, and I do not see any evidence of genuine obedience to the commandments of Christ. I see little to no intention of any obedience, but plenty of accusation of everyone else for daring to be incensed at their gaslighting hypocrisy.

First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them,

for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12).