Daniel Darling: Theology and history

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, August 26th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Texas passes a law to put the Ten Commandments on classroom walls. A Democratic senator, and seminary grad, says it’s not only unconstitutional, but as he sees it, unchristian. WORLD Opinions contributor Daniel Darling looks at what happens when the religious left gets on the national stage with one of America’s top podcasters.

JAMES TALARICO: Well, I think broadly we should say that using religion to control the people is a tale as old as time, right?

DANIEL DARLING: In a recent episode of his popular podcast Joe Rogan talked with Texas Democratic State Sen. James Talarico, a mainline Presbyterian seminarian. His Christian language has some pundits enthusiastically predicting he could “turn Texas blue.” I have my doubts.

JOE ROGAN: What is the Biblical evidence for being pro-abortion?

TALARICO: In Genesis, God creates life by breathing life into the first human being, which we later call Adam. That life starts when you take your first breath is actually the mainline position in Judaism...

Talarico might be a seminarian, but his exegesis needs work. Besides claiming that Scripture declares life begins at “first breath”, he also suggests the incarnation of Jesus is a defense for elective abortion.

TALARICO: Creation is one of the most sacred acts that we engage in as human beings. But that has to be done with consent. It has to be done with freedom. And to me that is absolutely consistent with the ministry and life and death of Jesus.

Rogan’s more than two hour conversation with Talarico began with the senator’s opposition to a new law in the Lone Star State. A law that requires every public-school classroom to display a poster of the Ten Commandments.

TALARICO: I told my colleagues that I thought the bill was unconstitutional. I thought the bill was un-American. But I went one step further and I said I thought the bill was unchristian…

Talarico says that he’s a Christian who firmly believes in the separation of church and state. He isn’t alone in his opposition to the law. The ACLU has of course weighed in, but some conservatives also wonder if it violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

As a Baptist who believes that a “free church in a free state is the Christian ideal,” I’m allergic to state-compelled religion. For instance I don’t believe the government should demand non-Christian students to pray Christian prayers. The government should not trample the conscience.

However, I don’t think the Texas 10 Commandment law falls 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. He wrote: “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.”

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 past 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 do happen to catch a glance, they might be inspired to not steal or not covet. And that would be a good thing indeed.

I’m Daniel Darling.

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