My wife has been telling me that I write too much about religion. As always she is probably right but in today’s political climate it is just too hard not to write about religion. Pretty much every day you see references to religion and the Republican’s political campaign. We now have House Speaker Johnson saying that God wants him to be the New Moses leading the country through a Red Sea moment. To have the Speaker talk that way to me is scary. With Christianity in this country shrinking, it sounds like he wants to spread Christianity around the world by force. Christian nationalism is not about love and understanding. Christian Nationalism is not about the teachings of Jesus. People like to paint a picture of the Church spreading the word of Jesus which was received lovingly by the natives. If you are a student of history you will note this was just a myth that was spread by the Church. Millions have died as the Christian religion was spread around the world. Is that why guns are so important to the Christian Nationals? So they can take away all of our religious freedoms on a local and national level?  

In Louisiana they have just passed a law that says the Ten Commandments have to be posted in every classroom in the State of Louisiana. So much for the separation of Church and State or to put it another way, so much for having no state Religion. Let’s take a look at those Ten Commandments they want to post in the classroom and how they pertain to us today:

Commandment 1:  Thou shall have no other Gods before him. Ok, that should be easy, if the world was just one religion but it is not. Let’s also face it, even in the Christian world people value all kinds of things more than they do their religion such as money and power. Even the White Christian Nationals are not about spreading God’s love. They are about obtaining power and let’s face it power corrupts.

Commandment 2: That is the one about No Idols. If you really are honest with yourself you will admit that much of society and even Christian society is still worshiping that Golden Calf. Money and power is what are the most important things. That is what most of the billionaires wish to have and they also want to be held in higher esteem than the rest of us. I will always remember the Golden Trump that was at the Conservative Political Action conference in Orlando which was basically worshiped by many of the people attending the conference. As a society we tend to gravitate to things that we can see and not things that we can’t so Idol worship has never gone away.

Commandment 3: We should not use the Lord’s name in vain. That would be like eliminating half of the English language. Now that is a joke but let’s face it vulgarity is now part of American Culture and also World’s Culture. I have a dog that thinks part of her name is “God Damn It”. Again another poor joke but Words are just Words. It is the intent of the words that make something bad not the word itself.

Commandment 4: Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy. When I was a kid growing up Sunday was really a day for worship. As a family we all went to church and most of the people in the neighborhood also went to their various churches. Most stores and businesses were closed and Sunday was a day for Sunday dinner with family and family activities. Not today. Today almost every store is open. It is probably the biggest shopping day of the week. It is also one of the busiest days on any golf course. Where will you find many upstanding Christians like Donald Trump who likes to make himself out to be the Messiah of the American people? It will be on the golf course of course. I can see it now, some kid is going to start telling his dad what a sinner he is because he learned the Ten Commandments in school and he isn’t suppose to golf on Sundays.

Commandment 5: Honor thy Parents. My Parents are both dead and buried a long time ago. I try to honor them by being the best person I can be. A good Father, a good Grandfather, and a good friend to those close to me is one way we can honor the parents that brought us into the world. What our parents modeled will live inside of us and what we will pass on to future generations.

Commandment 6: Thou shall not murder. As a kid we were always told that thou should not kill. Let’s face it. This is one of the most ignored Commandments in the world. Millions have died in the name of God alone. Wars have been fought in the name of God. Women were declared witches and were executed in the name of God. Trump said he could shoot someone on 5^th Avenue and he wouldn’t lose a single vote. Killing has been part of the religious world no matter what the Commandment says.

Commandment 7: Thou shall not commit adultery. The Messiah of the Republican Party is Donald Trump. Let’s see if I can get this right. He had an affair on his first wife with who would become his second wife who got pregnant when he was still married to the first wife. He had an affair on his second wife who would become his third wife. He then had an affair with a Porn Star while his third wife was giving birth to his youngest child.

Commandment 8: Thou shall not steal. Wow. I would have to think that grifting the entire country is the ultimate form of stealing. Would cheating on your taxes be stealing? Is claiming land that was others stealing? Yes, I believe that we shouldn’t steal but there are many forms of stealing and I think that we have to do away with all of them and that includes the stealing of other people’s freedoms and liberties because they do not agree with your religion.

Commandment 9: You should not bear false witness. Yes we shouldn’t lie. That is one of the biggest problems that we have today. Calling the truth fake news is a lie. Calling lies alternative truths is a lie. Trump taking credit for lowering the price of Insulin when it was Biden did it, is a lie. The lying has only weakened our nation and I really think that has been the purpose of the lying. A weakened America is a vulnerable America. We can fact check everything but today it is just so much easier to believe the lies that feed our hate.

Commandment 10: Thou shall not covet. Isn’t that what is driving the Ukraine War? Putin coveting what he doesn’t have. Doesn’t that drive many wars? Isn’t coveting the things that we don’t have like power and money that drives much of our political system? Have people who have gone into politics do the will of the people? I suppose some have but too many have gone into politics because they covet the power they hope they will acquire.

Do we really want to put the Ten Commandments in our schools where our children can learn the hypocrisy of the system and the hypocrisy of people that put them there in the first place? I am a believer in the separation to Church and State. I think it is there for the survival of the Country, the Church and the World. Only confusion and violence will come from a Christian Nationalist Nation. Isn’t that the same death and violence that Hitler brought to the world?