should the ten commandments be displayed in public schools and court houses?

I agree the answer is a clear no. I believe this is especially true as a permanent fixture.

However, in my home town they used to (perhaps still do) display a nativity scene on the court house lawn at Christmas. I don't mind this sort of thing since other religions can display thier scene on their day. At least they could where I lived. We never had those displays at schools.

The main point in this whole debate is: Can religious expression have secular purpose and not promote any particular religion. Nativity scenes have a secular purpose because while Christmas is a religious holiday it is celebrated in a secular way as well. The same could be said about the ten commandments in that they serve a secular purpose in promoting honesty, ethics, and morality. There is also a historical context with the ten commandments in that they have provided a foundation of basic principles.

Liberal courts have shit on themselves by saying the sight of a TC display is an unwelcome advance of religion and therefore is unconstitutional. I can almost see a bunch of judges getting drunk and just throwing that down as an excuse.

The ten commandments say that you are not allowed to worship any god other than the Christian god. No honest person can say that is a secular message.

No it doesn't say that, don't be dishonest.

Yes it does. Are you like so many other Christians completely ignorant of what your book says? For whatever reason that seems to be rather common.

(1) You shall have no other gods before me. Okay you can claim that this technically isn't saying you can't worship any other god, since you could have them as your secondary god but anybody with a shred of honesty knows that this is saying you're not allowed to be of a different religion

(2) You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Pretty much same as above. The punctuation is kinda funny. This might extend to thou shall not make Barbie dolls. Still it reinforces the first commandment and then goes into specifics.

He said any God other than the Christian God. There is a secular as well as historical purpose of having the ten commandments displayed here.

Nope, its advocating a particular religion.

I swear the more I read about this the more I just don't care. You guys are the minority and worse you are the wrong minority. You cannot prove that the founding fathers intentions were to rid all religious expression from public, you cannot come up with a logical case for how religious expression in public is forcing religion onto anyone, and you cannot make even a reasonable case as to how a person can be harmed from any of the religious expression we've seen up to this point.

So as far as I am concerned I don't care, you guys are smart enough to know the difference between religious expression and a government forcing religion on anyone, so get over it.

tehehe...

There is no secular reason as I've pointed out and you, Outlander, have agreed that most societies figured out the universal laws all on their own without the Bible. It is advocating a particular "set" of religions and there is a logical case that has been mentioned for everything you mention.

The Founding Fathers (amongst others) came here seeking religious freedom and specifically worded our documents to prevent a union of religion and government. They don't use religion in any of the documents save twice. Once is a Creator which is very ambigious and could be applied equally to Shiva or Zeus as it could to God. The second is a date. Also as far back as the Barbary wars our Presidents outright rejected the concept that this was a Christian nation.

Putting a the TC in a public place is a public endorsement. Hense it is forcing religion on to anybody who uses that location for anything.

Of course we can't make a argument for how a person is harmed by religious expression. It doesn't and cannot happen. It's the same as you can't make an argument for how atheists are harming people. It's like proving that commercials for Sonic the Hedgehog are harmful. You'd have to be some kind of idiot to think they were harmful. They however shouldn't happen on public property with tax dollars. Public property shouldn't be religious or anything else other than neutral ground.

When I say there is a secular reason I am pointing to the numerous courts that have held religious expression is allowed if there is a secular purpose, so you are wrong.

Bullshit about it not harming people. A Christian flying jets in airforce may feel some sort of comfort from haveing the word "God" in a phrase on a patch on their arm IN LATIN. You guys come along and cry and now the same pilot gets to think about that and think about how stupid the argument is instead of focusing on his job. Decades long monuments torn down and the petty despicable atheists that are responsible get death threats and are marginalized. What do these lawsuits cost in money and what do they cost in wasted time? This issue hurts everyone.

Don't sit there an say that the TC's in a courthouse is forcing religion on to anyone. If I live across the street from a Church that has a banner on its front lawn with the TC's on it am I being forced into a religion just because I can see it. A profoundly ridiculous and completely weak argument.

I'd love for you to cite some of these cases since there really is very little secular reason for any religious expression.

You're argument about Christian Pilots is stupid. Replace God with Pac-man and see if you argument holds.

TC in a court room is the GOVERNMENT endorsing a religion. It's entirely different from a church. There is a difference between the Superbowl endorsing Bud and Congress officially having Bud as the beer of choice of the government.

Im pretty imaginative and even I can't imagine an airforce pilot not being able to muster up prayer when his engines go out and his last thoughts and cries are, "Damn those atheists, I might be able to remember my saviors name if it was enscribed on my uniform! Our father who art....who art what?! FUCK!"

If I die via giggle fits I'm totally pressing charges Star.

I second that. I might call a lawyer for damage already received.