On Sunday, May 6th, a group of religious zelots plan on meeting in Washington DC so they can agree to force the 10 Commandments down all our throats.
The event in Washington on Sunday is organized by the Ten Commandments Commission, a coalition of synagogues and churches. The alliance has declared the first Sunday in May as Ten Commandments Day and seeks to remind Americans how the tablets form the moral foundation of American law and inform the nation’s values.
“It is essential that the 10 Commandments remain at the forefront of our national conscience every day of the year in order to ensure that our country remains one nation under God,” states Ron Wexler, an Orthodox Jew and founder of the commission. “Ten Commandments Day serves a reminder to Americans of their obligation to the higher being who permits us to enjoy our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”
One Christian sect disagrees. The Seventh-day Adventists handed out booklets titled “Ten Commandments Twice Removed.” on Daley Plaza in Chicago on Friday.
“God’s commandments are 10 promises of what he will empower us to do if we permit him to work in our hearts,” said Shelley Quinn, a program director for Hinsdale-based Three Angels Broadcasting, the Adventist TV network sponsoring the Arie Crown event. “It’s up to the church, not the government, to restore support for them by writing them in our hearts and putting them into practice.”
“Sometimes the 10 Commandments are used to beat people up a little bit,” said Ken Denslow, president of the Illinois Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, a denomination that numbers 12,500 faithful in Illinois. “Certainly, in the debate and discussion in the U.S., it’s become a rallying call. … If we had the spirit of the law in our hearts and our lives we wouldn’t need to push so hard to make sure they are posted.”
“Seventh-day Adventists have a great respect for the 10 Commandments,” said Roger Dudley, of the Institute of Church Ministry at Andrews University in Michigan, home to the nation’s only Seventh-day Adventist seminary. “Posting the thing doesn’t mean anything. It’s keeping it that counts.”
I really wish all Christians felt that way.
