Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Atheist Lawsuit: "Ten Commandments Violate Constitution"

Print Friendly Version of this pagePrint Get a PDF version of this webpagePDF

CBS is reporting that an atheist group has, last week, filed a lawsuit which alleges that not only is the State of Oklahoma's Display of the Ten Commandments on capitol grounds unconstitutional, "but the majority of each of the Judeo-Christian Commandments are themselves in violation of the U.S. Constitution."

This lawsuit is different than previous suits that seek to "remove" the Ten Commandments from public property, it takes aim at the very constitutionality of the Commandments themselves.

Here's what the suit claims.


The CBS affiliate in Houston says the lawsuit reads, "The first commandment of the Display, if it were part of Oklahoma law, would be unconstitutional, because it would establish, at minimum, Jewish and Christian monotheism as the law of the land."

The suit continues:

"The second commandment of the Display prohibits making any 'graven images'. However, if this commandment were part of Oklahoma law it would fail as a violation of citizen's free speech and expression of rights protected under the United States and Oklahoma Constitution. From the foundation of the United States, the making of graven images has been part and parcel of being American, honoring our Founding Fathers, and honoring the United States."

The freedom given by God and protected by our government has provided the most free society in the history of the world. It is apparently now being used in an attempt to expunge the God who gave the freedoms from our public discourse---using those very freedoms to do so.

And being used as a tool for the advancement and enforcement of atheism, also a form of religion.

The plaintiff, Aimee Breeze, is a member of the American Atheists organization and a resident of Oklahoma.

She claims the Display of the Ten Commandments at the Capitol is "hurtful and exclusive."

Hurtful and exclusive?

Is forbidding people to kill and steal hurtful and exclusive? Should the moral restraint against adultery be abandoned? Should we now be free to "bear false witness" or lie under any and all circumstances, even in court where there would no longer be an "oath" because that too would be unconstitutional?

As secular progressives are revising history to support their cause, are the atheists now seeking to redefine the oldest human moral code known to mankind because it collides with their religion of humanism?

What is their replacement for the Ten Commandments, and upon what are these new principles based?

How can society work with no social contract?

Well, the atheists concede, we can keep the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Commandments because "they are all commonly understood wrongs."

How have they become commonly understood? And why would their origin also not disqualify them?

It is true that most humans have a sense of right and wrong.

Romans 2:14-16 refers to God's law being written on people's hearts, with their conscience bearing witness---yet being conflicted in their thoughts.

While all men and women have a sense of a moral standard, the unregenerate do not have God as the basis of their moral standard. Paul's point in Romans 1:19-23 is that even if the morality of the unregenerate is religiously motivated, their darkened hearts cause their conception of God and their sense of connection to Him to be distorted.

Knowledge without connection is the basis for confusion and personal conflict. Atheists claim they do not believe God exists, but spend their life and resources fighting against Him.

Conflict.

Ezekiel uses the metaphor of a "heart of stone." In Ephesians, Paul uses "hardness of heart."

Never has there been a more urgent need for the Ten Commandments than in our present secular progressive culture. But we need more than that. We need a personal connection or relationship with God.

The late Chuck Colson said, "We have entered into a time of moral crises in our culture and in the church, as well. Stories about divorce, adultery, and individualized picking and choosing of doctrines abound. How then shall we live? The beginning of the answer must be in obedience to the Ten Commandments."

Alistar Begg says in his book "Pathway To Freedom," "Surveys in this 'new age of faith' reveal that more than three-fourths of all Americans believe that 'many religions can lead to eternal life'. Staggeringly, nearly half of those who identify themselves as 'highly committed' evangelicals agree with that statement. The extent of the confused muddle headedness is frightful but not surprising. It is here that the battle rages, and it is here we must take our stand. Instead of mumbling some mushy religious pluralism, we need to be prepared to take our Bibles in hand and graciously, yet courageously, declare a world view that begins with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in the person of His Son Jesus( with whom He and the Holy Spirit are co-equal and co-eternal) has stepped out of eternity and into time, demonstrating that He is neither anonymous nor vague."

Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Bold. Be Prayerful. Be Pro-Active. Be Blessed.