The TEN COMMANDMENTS are a joke

A couple days ago a co-worker mentioned that they didn't understand why anyone would have an objection to the 10 Commandments being displayed somewhere. The obvious objection, I said, was separation of church and state. Secularists object to a religious text being on government/public grounds. "But there's nothing WRONG with the ten commandments!" she argued.

Oh, but there is! The first three or four commandments (depending on your religion) all have to do with honoring God. What a jealous and petty god! It needs a WHOLE day devoted to its holiness? Geez, how narcissistic! And besides, there's a whole lot of things that I find offensive that I would include on a list of Commandments that certainly don't make it on, mainly rape, sexual assault, and the exploitation of human beings in general. And slaves are okay, I just can't take them from my neighbor.

The Ten Commandments are also the perfect example of how self-contradictory, widely interpreted, and variously translated the Bible is. I don't understand how anyone can know anything about the Bible and view it as the WORD OF GOD when it is so clearly the convoluted WORD OF MAN. You don't need to be a Bible scholar to figure this one out either. Just look at the Wikipedia article on the Ten Commandments. There's a lot of variation.

Moreover, why are Christians so reverent about the Ten Commandments? If one claimed to be a follower of JESUS, wouldn't they hold the Beatitudes a little more holy? Of all religious sentiments, I definitely favor those over the Ten Commandments. Of course, those have contradicting versions (Matthew vs. Luke) just like everything else in the Bible.

But, in a violent power-hungry society, the Christian Right is never going to value things like the poor, the mourners, the hungry, the meek, the peacemakers, etc... Even though that's what their Holy Book tells them to value. Typical.

Here's my Commandment:

DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE!