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Thou shalt not post

Moniqua Lane

In the past few years, schools across the country have become shooting galleries, and school boards have sought frantically to end the bloody phenomenon. Indiana, like the U.S. House of Representatives, has latched on to the easiest, yet worst possible remedy, in passing a bill allowing schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The Commandments may only be posted as an historical document alongside the Constitution or the Gettysburg Address, for example. This way, supporters hope to get around Supreme Court rulings that outlaw posting the Commandments. It seems like such a good idea that eight other states are considering following in Indiana's footsteps. However, legislation allowing the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools is a waste of taxpayers' time and money.

Twenty years ago, the Supreme Court outlawed posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools on First Amendment grounds. The logic was that the First Amendment supports the separation of church and state, and that when a school displays moral edicts based on religion, it violates that separation. Additionally, the Court saw no reason for teachers not to post what are simply classroom rules, instead of the Ten Commandments.

First Amendment violation is most often cited in arguments against posting the Ten Commandments. However, those in favor of posting the Ten Commandments in public buildings claim that the First Amendment was never intended to erect a wall between church and state. This proposition is hotly debated among scholars, but the fact is that our legal corpus says there is a wall between church and state. Thus, there is a legally buttressed de facto wall between church and state.

The violation becomes more clear when we stop to remember exactly what the Ten Commandments say. If a teacher wants to tell children not to steal or to honor their parents, that's fine. When, however, a teacher begins telling children not to use the Lord's name in vain or not to hold idols before the Lord, the line between moral instruction and religious indoctrination has been crossed. Posting the Ten Commandments in state-owned buildings is certainly a leap over this carefully drawn line.

What is worse, what is most dangerous, is the mistaken belief that posting the Ten Commandments is any kind of solution to America's perceived moral decay as evidenced by gun-toting teens. Proponents of displaying the Ten Commandments all fall victim to two fallacies, assuming that the problem with society today is that there are no rules and also assuming that these particular rules will be heeded.

Moral regulations litter the legal code like so many cigarette butts and Styrofoam cups on the side of a highway. We should be trying to dispose of them in the proper manner, but instead we toss more out the window, cluttering our legal code and not fixing the problem. It is illegal for a minor to posses a handgun or to steal his parents' shotgun; it is illegal to discharge any gun in a heavily populated area; it is illegal to murder people. The problem is not that rules do not exist, the problem is that rules are not being followed.

What makes proponents of posting the Ten Commandments believe that these ten little rules will be any more heeded than the already existing laws? Of course, the Ten Commandments supposedly come from the mouth of God, which might carry some weight. If, however, that logic didn't work for his chosen people, or his crusading Christian soldiers or an entire slew of televangelists, why should it work for a jaded, cynical group of secularists more than 2000 years removed? It shouldn't. It won't.

If we don't want to see corpses piling up wherever children gather, then parents, older siblings, mentors, teachers - anyone who cares - need to find a way to instill in children a respect for life, peace, authority and order, just to name a few. This can be difficult because a healthy disrespect for order and authority is as American as quick-fixes and moral indignance. Also, it asks that we regulate our own behavior before regulating that of others, another solution taking more time and energy than we wish to expend. Posting the Ten Commandments in the classroom is a quick and easy fix to our problem of violent, tigger-happy teens, but it is also short-sighted and ineffectual.