This week we are saluting our columnists via this newsletter, publishing a work from a different columnist each day.
The Journal & Press’s greatest strength is its well-written columns. The paper punches well above its weight thanks to these balanced opinion pieces.
Let’s start with our current longest standing columnist, Lance Allen Wang, who also took office this year as White Creek Supervisor. He’s been writing for The Journal & Press for four and a half years, never missing an issue. Many readers tell us he’s their favorite columnist.
Here is his take on the posting of the 10 Commandments in schools…
The writing on the wall
By Lance Allen Wang
Journal & Press
As I write this, the latest controversy being played out in the news is the decision of the State of Louisiana to require the Ten Commandments on the walls of all public-school classrooms. I just watched an interview with one of the co-authors of the law, Louisiana State Representative Lauren Ventrella and when pressed, her justification for this measure was, “If parents aren’t going to do their jobs, we’ll do it for them.”
Wow.
Talk about big government. Before they imploded under the weight of their own contradictions, even the far-right “Moms for Liberty” performatively proclaimed “We don’t co-parent with the government.”
The interviewer, attempting to get Representative Ventrella off the scripted talking points, tried to get her to answer a hypothetical as to how she would feel if the commandments enumerated by another faith were mandated in her child’s classroom. She refused to entertain such a hypothetical.
I suppose it is ironic that religion, something which in its truest form is supposed to make us empathetic to the needs of our fellow human being, is instead here placed as a stumbling block, a potentially divisive flashpoint, and a political line of battle. And as the son of a 30-year public school teacher, I’ll say this – the ones who lose in this are the teachers, as usual.
For instance, the state is saying that the Ten Commandments are not posted as an endorsement of faith, but rather as a “historical” document. The law mandating the posting of the Ten Commandments also “authorizes” the posting of other “historical documents,” including the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance. But the Ten Commandments (in the State’s chosen translation!) is mandatory, as is a four-paragraph “context statement” which points out that the Ten Commandments, “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”
But, it is the teachers who will have to lead discussions, and teachers who run the risk of further separating a parent from the right to choose whether and how they engage their children on spiritual matters. And recorded history is not always in accordance with the matters that we accept as faith. Some denominations believe that the Ten Commandments were written by God. Others believe that they were written by man and inspired by God. Historians do not agree at all as to when or by whom they were written. Is a teacher in a position to comment? Should they?
I am not against the Ten Commandments. I’m the president of a house of worship. I also lay lead worship services and have for years. The Ten Commandments are an important part of my liturgy. We discuss the Ten Commandments, and we discuss them in multiple contexts, many lenses. We know they don’t stand alone, there are verses before, and verses after. The Ten Commandments are even restated – not verbatim – three books later in the book of Deuteronomy. Why are they phrased differently? Is it the school’s place to provide context? And the magic question – what context?
Now, if the state wants the public schools to teach ABOUT religion, I think a basic survey of religions in the United States is a great idea. We’re a big country and we’re part of an even bigger world. But if you want to create a state-mandated worldview of America’s founding principles coming from the Ten Commandments, you’re going to start to walk into less stable ground. America’s history is full of examples of tension regarding the separation between church and state. Our 2nd President, Founding Father John Adams, reinforced his feelings on the establishment clause when he assured the signatories in a 1797 treaty that, “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion…”
Let me offer for your approval a different path. If morality is to ornament our classrooms, center it around the Golden Rule. There are quite a few religions and denominations that agree on the principle, if not the phrasing, of this fundamental concept. This simple principle is the one that provides us with the roots of empathy, which, I suggest, is a deficit as bad for our country as a monetary one.
In Christianity, Jesus says in Matthew 7:12 “In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.”
In Judaism, Hillel writes in the Talmud, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary.”
In Islam, “Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself.”
Among the Hindu faith, “This is the sum of duty; do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.”
Adherents of Buddhism say, “Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”
Sikhs say “I am a stranger to no one; and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all.”
Do you get the idea? Using the Ten Commandments as a state-mandated lesson on morality only clearly draws a line between those whose faith embraces the Ten Commandments and those whose does not. And even among adherents of the Ten Commandments, of course, there are those whose translation of the Ten Commandments matches the state and those who don’t.
“Miss Othmar, my daddy says that the commandment is ‘Thou shalt not murder,’ not ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ He was in the war. Is he going to Hell?” Is it necessary to put Miss Othmar, a homeroom teacher, in the position of having to address this?
Perhaps by moving off the Ten Commandments and on to the Golden Rule, we can teach that among the multiplicity of faiths in America, there are common, explicit values as to how we treat each other. Who knows, perhaps our public schools can begin to heal the divides which are doing so much harm to our country, or at least plant the seed. But it’s not going to happen following Louisiana’s path.
Lance Allen Wang is an Iraq Veteran and retired Army Infantry officer who lives in Eagle Bridge, N.Y, with his wife Hatti.
Wonderfully written, and spot on!!
Well-stated, Lance. Thank you.