Besides the fact that the New Testament itself—and the teachings of its two main figures, Jesus and Paul—can be shown to embody and insist upon all kinds of exploitative and oppressive relations, and the corresponding ideas, often in extreme form, the reality is that those who profess Christianity do not want to base themselves on the New Testament alone—nor could they. This applies above all to the fundamentalist Christian Fascists. And in this light we can see, sharply illuminated, the hypocrisy of those who, when confronted with the very real horrors that are upheld, and insisted upon, in the so-called “Mosaic” books and elsewhere in the Old Testament of the Bible,1 seek to evade this by insisting: “That is the Old Testament; now, through Jesus, there is a New Testament.” Well, if that is the case—if the Old Testament has been replaced and superseded by the New Testament—then what about the Ten Commandments? Why are you bothering everybody about the Ten Commandments—demanding that they be propagated everywhere as a “moral guide and standard”?
Where are the Ten Commandments in the Bible? You won’t find them in the New Testament. The Ten Commandments are in the heart of the Old Testament. They’re in the Torah of the ancient Jewish scriptures, in the “Mosaic books” of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. They are a crucial part of the old covenant, the Old Testament.
What about Judge Moore in Alabama—a big hero of the Christian Fascists, who has talked about running for governor of Alabama (it seems that he is seeking to become the George Wallace of this era)? Why did he insist on putting the Ten Commandments in the courthouse in Alabama? Didn't somebody tell him: “Oh, that’s the Old Testament. Forget about it. We have a New Testament now. Get rid of those Ten Commandments.” Why do Pat Robertson and other prominent Christian Fascists keep repeating: “Remember now, it’s the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Recommendations”? Why do they never tire of saying—and citing biblical authority for their position—that the Ten Commandments have to be upheld and carried out? Why do they talk about the Psalms supposedly written by King David and the wisdom of King Solomon? That’s all in the Old Testament.
Well, Robertson and others like him are right about one thing: The Bible, specifically in the Old Testament, does insist that the Ten Commandments, and the other parts of the “Mosaic Law,” must indeed be carried out to the letter, and without exception or qualification. We are told this, for example, in chapter 5 of Deuteronomy— and, in fact, repeatedly throughout Deuteronomy. Not only is it very clear here (and in other parts of the Old Testament particularly) that all this has to be carried out to the letter, but the Bible goes on, after enumerating the Ten Commandments, to specify very definite penalties—cruel and vicious penalties—for not carrying out the Ten Commandments. These are most definitely not ten “recommendations” or “requests.” And what are these penalties? Well, violators of these Commandments must be put to death not only for things like committing murder, but also for worshiping other gods (besides “the one true God”) or blaspheming the name of the Lord. They must be put to death for working on the Sabbath. Children must be put to death for not honoring their father and their mother: In other words, if you are a rebellious child and you strike your parents, or even if you are disrespectful to them, according to the Bible you should be executed.
And the Bible insists that people be put to death for many other things, which most people in the world today do not even view as crimes, let alone crimes that should carry the death penalty. All this is spelled out particularly in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.
What is wrong with the Ten Commandments? How could it do any harm to instill these values in people, and in particular the youth today? Well, one thing is that these Commandments uphold slavery. Let’s look at the tenth commandment. The tenth commandment says what? “Thou shall not covet. . .” And here we discover something very revealing. When Judge Moore in Alabama—and William Bennett,2 who wrote The Book of Virtues, promoting biblically-based traditional values—when they propagated the Ten Commandments, all they included of the tenth commandment were the initial words: “Thou shall not covet.” What were they leaving out? Well, if you go to the Bible itself, it tells you what you’re not supposed to covet—what you’re not supposed to envy and wrongfully desire among your neighbor’s possessions. You are not supposed to covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s ox or his donkey; and you are not supposed to covet his slaves, or his wife—and here again we can see that in the social relations embodied here, and elsewhere, in the Bible, when “thy neighbor” is spoken of, it is the man of the household who is being referred to, and his wife is listed among his possessions, as well as his house, his oxen and asses, and his slaves. So, along with enshrining patriarchal relations of oppression, the Bible is saying slavery is fine, just don’t try to take away from your neighbor the slaves who are rightfully his. (The Ten Commandments can be found in Exodus chapter 20, verses 1–17.)
What’s wrong with the Ten Commandments? Plenty. What harm would it do to have the Ten Commandments put up everywhere, including in all kinds of public places—wouldn’t that be good moral instruction for our children? No, it would not—not when you recognize what it is these commandments are actually talking about and when you see what penalties are demanded for going against these commandments.