A foundation for law

In a recent episode of his popular podcast, Joe Rogan had a discussion with Texas Democratic State Sen. James Talarico, a seminarian at a Presbyterian school whose Christian language has some pundits and media outlets enthusiastically predicting he could “turn Texas blue.” I have my doubts that a politician who claims that Scripture declares life only begins at “first breath” and that the incarnation of Jesus is a defense for elective abortion is going to launch an electoral wave in his very red state. Talarico might be a seminarian, but his exegesis needs work.

I’d like to focus, however, on Talarico’s opposition to a new law in the Lone Star State that requires every public-school classroom to display a poster of the Ten Commandments. He told the Texas Tribune: “My faith means more to me than anything, but I don't believe the government should be forcing religion onto any American citizen, especially our children. I'm a Christian who firmly believes in the separation of church and state.”

This new law has not only invited the opposition of this liberal state senator and the usual opposition from groups like the ACLU, it has also raised the eyebrows of some conservatives who wonder if it violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. A similar law in Louisiana was blocked by a federal court. And in 1980, the Supreme Court struck down a like-minded proposal from Kentucky.

As a Baptist who believes that a “free church in a free state is the Christian ideal,” I’m allergic to state-compelled religion. I don’t believe the government should, for instance, demand non-Christian students to pray Christian prayers, just as I’d be, as a Christian parent, against a compulsory Muslim or Hindu or Mormon prayer. Coerced faith is not faith at all. The government should not trample the conscience.

However, I don’t consider the requirement to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms to fall into this category. First, it’s undeniable that this set of laws is not only at the heart of the Christian faith, but is at the fountainhead of Western moral law. Consider the words of founder John Adams: “If ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.”

His son, John Quincy Adams, was even more explicit: “The law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code; it contained many statutes … of universal application—laws essential to the existence of men in society.” William Blackstone, the English jurist and politician whose commentaries on law influenced the American Founders, said this: “Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws.”

To post the Ten Commandments in the classroom is not an imposition of the Christian religion by the state but an acknowledgement of history by public schools. The Founders’ desire to resist the establishment of a state church wasn’t intended to scrub any contact with Christianity from the government. Christianity wasn’t the only influence on the formation of American democracy, but it wasn’t an insignificant one either. Sadly, in the last several decades, American jurisprudence has sought to rob American students of knowing the full history of their country. Most of America’s great leaders from Thomas Jefferson to FDR to Martin Luther King would not recognize the secularism that has dominated our discussions. They all understood and acknowledged Christianity’s influence on the republic.

Additionally, public schools often post signs and posters from numerous historic events on classroom walls. Many post motivational quotes and signs. Some even push messages about sexuality.

What’s more, the mere presence of a poster containing the Ten Commandments will not harm even those who don’t share the Christian faith. They can look away if they are so inclined. But if those students did happen to catch a glance, they might be inspired to not steal or not covet. Would society be worse off if, among the crowded collection of inspirational sayings on the wall, these ideas took hold?

And perhaps James Talarico might, in the course of his theological studies, ponder these God-given truths and reconsider his position on a crucial command: Thou shalt not kill.