From on high.IN a famous scene in Mel Brooks's History of the World: Part I, Brooks plays Moses coming down from Mount Sinai. He declares, "I bring you these 15"--and then, mid-sentence, he drops one tablet, breaking it--"Ten! I bring you these Ten Commandments." Perhaps there is wisdom here. Last month the Supreme Court burped up one of its classic hairball hair·ball n. A small mass of hair located in the stomach or intestine of an animal, such as a cat, resulting from an accumulation of small amounts of hair that are swallowed each time the animal licks its coat. rulings. There were two rulings actually--and ten opinions between them. In one ruling the Decalogue is fit for posting on state property; in the other it's verboten ver·bo·ten adj. Forbidden; prohibited. [German, past participle of verbieten, to forbid, from Middle High German, from Old High German farbiotan; see bheudh- . It's okay outside, no good inside. There are other tests, rules, and criteria, of course. You've got to fertilize the surrounding soil with "secular" and/or "educational" bric-a brac. And in a Hayekian touch for which I actually have some sympathy, the display becomes less offensive if it's been sitting around for a long time--like the depictions hanging around the actual Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. Again, while I have sympathy for the idea that old things deserve more respect than new, the Court's "position" is another example of the justices' taking Yogi yo·gi n. pl. yo·gis One who practices yoga. [Hindi yog Berra's advice about how when you come to a fork in the road A Fork in the Road is an Australian travel television series airing on SBS and hosted by Pria Viswalingam. Described by SBS as "the thinking-person’s travel show" the program takes the viewer off the beaten track and takes a look at the lives of the people you should take it. The upshot: State institutions can recognize that America was a religious country; they just can't suggest it is one now. But perhaps our nine Solomons could have split the baby along a different axis--which brings us back to Mel Brooks's Moses. Instead of allowing all Ten Commandments in only some places, how about allowing only some commandments in all places? Most anti-religion zealots Zealots (zĕl`əts), Jewish faction traced back to the revolt of the Maccabees (2d cent. B.C.). The name was first recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus as a designation for the Jewish resistance fighters of the war of A.D. 66–73. object only to the commandments that mention God. In most versions, that's just the first four. Commandments 5 through 10 are generally rules that really are codified in our civil and criminal law. Indeed, Justice Breyer made it clear that the Ten Commandments are fine when they are used as a "moral" symbol rather than a "religious" one. Let the theologians and philosophers split those hairs; I say let's just run with the copy everyone can agree on. Perhaps every statehouse state·house also state house n. A building in which a state legislature holds sessions; a state capitol. statehouse Noun NZ a rented house built by the government Noun 1. and court building in the country could run the "Ten Commandments--Revised Edition": 1. I am the [redacted] thy [redacted]: Thou shalt not Thou Shalt Not is the initial phrase of most of the Ten Commandments brought forth by Moshe the prophet. It can also mean:
2. Thou shalt not make graven grav·en v. A past participle of grave3. Adj. 1. graven - cut into a desired shape; "graven images"; "sculptured representations" sculpted, sculptured images (pursuant to relevant copyright law). 3. Thou shalt not take the name of [redacted] in vain. And so on. And if that doesn't work for the Court, they could always insert variants of "U.S. Supreme Court" over the redacted bits. |
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