To Post, or Not to Post – What Should We Do with the 10 Commandments?
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, the latest move from a GOP-dominated Legislature pushing a conservative agenda under a new governor. (Read the AP story about the new law here. Read the AP story about the recent legal challenges to the law here.)
Maybe it’s just what the algorithms are sending to my social media feeds, but I’ve been shocked by the number of professing Christians who have taken to social media to lament and even ridicule the recent Louisiana law relating to the posting of the 10 Commandments. I understand non-Christian groups and individuals opposing the law, but I suppose I’ve been surprised by the number of evangelicals who think the new law is either silly, foolish, or harmful.
Most of the objections I’ve seen fall into one of two categories. One, some have argued that our public schools are not tasked with pushing a particular religious agenda, and posting the 10 Commandments clearly promotes a Judeo-Christian worldview. Two, others have argued that posting the 10 Commandments is a useless exercise in political posturing. These objectors have reminded us that our culture will not change because a poster is displayed in a classroom. Some have pointed towards the New Testament ethic as expressed in a passage like the Beatitudes, urging Christians to focus on living their faith rather than posting an Old Testament passage on the walls of a classroom.
How are we to think about these two objections?
In responding to the first objection – the idea that public schools should not be pushing a particular religious agenda – several things might be noted. One, it is entirely impossible for an educational institution of any kind to be morally, ethically, and religiously neutral. Some overarching worldview must prevail and govern the work of education. That worldview will either be Christian, or it will be secular, or it will be rooted in some other worldview – but there is no “neutral” approach to education. Two, a casual glance around our nation reveals that our schools are in fact in the business of promoting a particular worldview. That worldview includes a godless and naturalistic approach to science, a celebration of all things LGBTQ, and the assumption that therapists and counselors and teachers know better than parents. Make no mistake, our schools are not (and can not) be neutral places of learning.
In responding to the second objection – the idea that it’s a waste of time and money to display a poster than won’t change anything in the broader cultural landscape – several things might be noted. I suppose there are a few evangelical Christians out there (or a few devoted Catholics) who truly believe that posting the 10 Commandments in public schools is a good first step in “putting God back into our schools and our country.” I suppose a few of these folks really think that Christianity can be legislated and promoted by our government. I suppose these people are out there – I just don’t know any of them. At this point, in the 2024 version of the United States, I don’t know anyone who thinks that posting the 10 Commandments or putting prayer back in schools or anything else is going to magically turn back time and make American a “Christian nation.” I do know people who have realized that there is no neutral ground when it comes to legislating morality (and all legislation deals with morality), nor is their neutral ground when it comes to education (and all education deals with worldview issues). In the absence of anything resembling neutrality, and with the overwhelming push for anti-Christian worldviews coming from every corner of our culture, most of the folks I know simply want to have a say in the debate.
Additionally, when I hear professing evangelical Christians lament a law that requires the posting of the 10 Commandments, I want to remind them of the following truths we believe as evangelical Christians:
We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21). The 10 Commandments are part of the inspired canon of Scripture, which means they are living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12-13), and they are useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training (2 Timothy 3:17).We believe Jesus when he insisted that not an iota or a dot would pass away or be abolished from the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17-18). Instead, Jesus claimed that the entirety of the Law and the Prophets was fulfilled in his life, death, and resurrection (Matthew 5:17). These statements were spoken immediately after the famous Beatitudes which are often referenced by those who object to the posting of the 10 Commandments. We believe Jesus when he taught his disciples that the entirety of the Law and the Psalms and the Prophets (the Torah, the Neviim, the Ketuvim) were pointing God’s people forward to Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah (Luke 24:25-27, 24:44-45). That means that when Christians read the Old Testament – and the 10 Commandments are a central piece of the Old Testament – we read Scripture that points us toward Jesus. We believe the apostle Paul when he said that the Law of God was holy, and righteous and good (Romans 6:12). Maybe I’m not giving the 10 Commandment objectors the benefit of the doubt, but the subtext of some of their objections seems to be rooted in a disdain for the Old Covenant Law itself. Some of the objections seem to imply that if we were going to post anything, it should be something from the New Testament. However, the apostle Paul – while refusing to be bound by the Old Covenant Law – still viewed the Law of God as holy and righteous and good. We believe the Law of God – when used rightly – both convicts us of sin and brings us to Christ (Romans 7:7, Galatians 3:24). Maybe I’m putting words and thoughts into Paul’s mind, and maybe his application of these verses would be other than what I expect in the 2024 version of the United States … but it seems reasonable to think that Paul would celebrate the public posting of something that might convict people of sin and lead them to Christ. Of course, the act of posting these things is not magical or automatic, but it does seem worth applauding. We believe that the Law of God as expressed in the 10 Commandments not only reveals the character of God (see Exodus 20:1-2 and Deuteronomy 5:1-6), but we also believe in what Protestant theologians have referred to as the “Third Use of the Law.” It seems entirely rational for Christians to celebrate the posting of a portion of God’s Word that serves to tell us about the very character of the Creator while also telling us about what the Creator wants in the lives of his creatures.
