Unhitch From the Ten Commandments? No.

Current Events, Religious Freedom, ,

Last month we wrote about the unnecessary controversy surrounding Arkansas’ monument of the Ten Commandments. You may recall a group parked a satanic statue in front of the Arkansas Capitol Building for a short time to protest the state’s monument of the Ten Commandments.

As a result, more than a few Christians questioned whether or not the state should remove the Ten Commandments monument from the capitol lawn. We have written about why that’s a bad idea.

Today our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview have published a commentary explaining why the Ten Commandments are still important for us today.

John Stonestreet writes,

What’s the only passage in Scripture personally written down by God? If you answered “the Ten Commandments,” you’re right on the money. Exodus tells us that God audibly spoke these laws at Mount Sinai and inscribed them on tablets of stone with His own finger.

Of course, that’s not the only reason the Ten Commandments have a central place in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Christians have long understood them to be the clearest expression of God’s eternal moral character. Not to mention, they played an instrumental role in shaping Western civilization, including forming the foundation of our legal system and our understanding of justice. It’s why Moses and those tablets can be found at the apex of the U.S. Supreme Court. . . .

The moral principles expressed in the Ten Commandments didn’t come into existence at Sinai. They’re part of God’s eternal character which He built into the very fabric of reality itself. Even more, Jesus relied on the Old Testament throughout His ministry and in His teaching, especially when making the moral case for something. The reason, from a Christian worldview, is clear: Whether we’re talking about the moral principles expressed in the Ten Commandments which Christ perfectly kept or the ceremonial regulations of Leviticus which foreshadowed our perfect High Priest, all of the Old Testament is relevant to Christianity.

We need to understand and appreciate the significance of the Ten Commandments — including their impact on our system government and their relevance to us still today.

You can read or listen to John Stonestreet’s entire commentary here.

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Federal Secretary of Education Targets “Free Speech” Policy at ASU

Current Events, , , , ,

Last week U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos criticized a “free speech” policy at Arkansas State University.

You may recall nearly a year ago attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit in federal court against Arkansas State University after the school attempted to suppress free speech by its students.

ADF says the school has tried to limit speech to sanctioned “free speech” zones. The university’s policy reportedly restricts free speech to 1% of its Jonesboro campus. When a student wanted to set up a table outside the student union to generate interest in forming a chapter of the group Turning Point USA on campus, a school administrator stopped her, citing the university’s speech policy.

At an event in Philadelphia last week, DeVos acknowledged the situation and criticized the school’s policy, saying,

As the purpose of learning is forgotten, ignored or denied, we are inundated daily with stories of administrators and faculty manipulating marketplaces of ideas.

Take what recently happened to a student at Arkansas State University. She wanted to recruit for a student organization she was founding, but soon learned it first had to be approved by the university. Even then, she still had to apply for a permission slip to distribute materials.

And all of the activity had to occur within the confines of a “speech zone,” typically obscure, small, cordoned-off corners of campus where free expression is “permitted.” These so-called “free speech zones” are popping up on campuses across the country, but they’re not at all free.

The Arkansas State student proceeded to set up shop, and was promptly removed by a university administrator and a campus police officer. She’s suing, and a judge recently allowed the action to proceed.

College campuses used to be places where students could freely exchange ideas. However, we are increasingly seeing attempts by school administrators to restrict speech on campus — especially speech by conservative and pro-life students.

Alliance Defending Freedom has an excellent track record litigating cases like this one in Jonesboro. Given that history, it seems likely the school’s anti-speech policies will not hold up in court.

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No Comparison Between Ten Commandments Monument and Baphomet Statue

Current Events

Last week the Satanic Temple caused quite a stir when it parked 7½-foot statue of baphomet — a satanic figure — in front of the Capitol Building for a couple of hours.

Protesters cheered, screamed expletives, and shouted, “Hail Satan” as the statue was unveiled on the back of a flatbed trailer.

To be clear, the statue did not stay on the Capitol lawn. It was hauled away after the protest finished.

The stunt was part of a rally the Satanic Temple organized to protest Arkansas’ monument of the Ten Commandments.

The Satanic Temple had threatened to place the statue on the Capitol grounds if the Arkansas Legislature went through with plans to install a monument of the Ten Commandments. However, the threats never went anywhere, because monuments require legislative authorization; not just anyone can put a permanent statue on the Capitol lawn.

However, a few Christians on social media have expressed concerns that the State of Arkansas ought to remove the Ten Commandments monument to ensure it’s never forced to allow a satanic statue on the Capitol lawn as well.

Here’s the problem with that line of thinking:

There’s no moral equivalence between the Ten Commandments and baphomet. 

The Ten Commandments are one of the earliest examples of the rule of law in the history of human civilization. They were meant to apply to everyone equally. They helped spawn the idea that people could be governed by constitutions and laws instead of kings. That’s why even secular historians down through the years have recognized the significance of the Ten Commandments.

Satanism and paganism did not do any of those things.

The Ten Commandments monument that Arkansas’ lawmakers voted to place on the Capitol lawn celebrates the impact and legacy of the Ten Commandments on Western Civilization, and it is identical to a monument the U.S. Supreme Court ruled constitutional in Texas a few years ago.

Does baphomet have that kind of legacy in our culture? Did Satan give us the rule of law or the idea of human equality? No.

Saying Arkansas’ monument of the Ten Commandments somehow forces the state to put a satanic statue on the Capitol lawn implies that the Ten Commandments and baphomet are somehow equal. They aren’t. One stands for righteousness, order, and the rule of law. The other stands for rebellion, chaos, and lawlessness.

There simply is no comparison.

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