I wrote this some time back, but the recent Louisiana legislation mandating the posting of The 10 Commandments in all school rooms (contrary to past Supreme Court prohibitions) suggested that it’s time for me to post this. After all, if we expect children to learn and follow these rules, maybe we ought to hold adults accountable for them, too.
Here’s the point: If The 10 Commandments are at the core of the Judeo/Christian tradition, and, as some evangelicals have claimed, if their god chose the recent ex-president to lead the U.S., we should be able to see how that ex-president’s actions align with the principles outlined in the commandments. I’m even willing to allow that even god-chosen leaders would have “flaws” as Rick Perry suggests. But how flawed will a leader be before that leader is deemed so contrary to the tenets of faith as to be renounced? At what point do religious leaders reject someone’s actions because of that person’s moral depravity. At what point does looking past “flaws” become an act of covering over immorality. Let’s see.
Each commandment and links to articles follow. I used the King James version since that’s the version most people know. There aren’t any references from Fox News because they seem not to have covered the referenced stories – maybe an explanation of why some religious leaders haven’t generated this analysis themselves since they appear to spend more time watching right-wing media than conducting biblical exegesis.
Want to reply and tell me that I have it all wrong? Please don’t. I’ve set this up so that the link can be forwarded or shared, but there’s no comment area. Why? I’m not interested in having a discussion. If you are, there are lots of other places for that. And if you want to correct me, do the Christian thing and pray for me as an apostate who majored in English and theology decades ago at a religious college and got weary enough of theological discussions that I stopped having them. I post these as my observation, not as a starting point for me to have any discussions on the topic. I post this as someone who’s genuinely concerned that the past president is taking another run at the presidency – and that there are people who think that’s a good idea. You’re welcome to pass this along or to ignore it, or anything else besides attempting to engage me in a conversation on this topic.
Exodus 20: 3-17
[Commandment 1]
[3] Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/meet-young-donald-trump-pioneer-self-promotion
[Commandment 2]
[4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: [5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; [6] And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_things_named_after_Donald_Trump
https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132337&page=1
[Commandment 3]
[7] Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-on-god-i-dont-like-to-have-to-ask-for-forgiveness-2016-1
[Commandment 4]
[8] Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: [10] But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: [11] For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/28/politics/donald-trump-church-member/index.html
[Commandment 5]
[12] Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-rewrite-fathers-will-fred-1149796
https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2015/07/donald-ivana-trump-divorce-prenup-marie-brenner
[Commandment 6]
[13] Thou shalt not kill.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/opinion/trump-deadly-deregulation.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-43152496
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/POL10/6700/2018/En/
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44120428
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/us/felipe-alonzo-gomez-customs-border-patrol.html
[Commandment 7]
[14] Thou shalt not commit adultery.
http://fortune.com/2018/02/16/donald-trump-karen-mcdougal-ronan-farrow/
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/donald-trump-scandals/474726/
[Commandment 8]
[15] Thou shalt not steal.
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-letitia-james-fraud-lawsuit-1569245a9284427117b8d3ba5da74249
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html
http://fortune.com/2016/10/08/donald-trump-taxes-contractors/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/opinion/trump-administration-corruption-conflicts.html
[Commandment 9]
[16] Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
http://time.com/5084420/donald-trump-lies-claims-fact-checks/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trumps-lies.html
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/
[Commandment 10]
[17] Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html
