In a message dated 12/16/2004 9:10:19 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
This is
fundamentally wrong as a matter of fact. There are far more than 10
commandments in what we know as the Ten Commandments.
<>There
are significant differences in numbering the commandments, differences
with significant theological overtones. There are important differences
in translations and understanding, again with significant theological
and practical import(Is it a ban on killing or murder? Does it
encompass war or abortion or capital punishment? And there are crucial
differences in the importance of the commandments. Are they as many
Christians seem to think, the sum and substance of binding law after
the advent of Jesus or as Jews think something else-a covenantal
document or a summary of the law, but not its totality. I spell out
these differences in an amicus brief in Orden v. Perry. Professor
Finkleman has an article coming out in an upcoming Fordham Law review
pointing out some of the differences and Professor Lubet had a similar
piece in constitutional commentaries a few years ago.
Actually, it is fundamentally correct as a matter of fact. The
Ten Words as set out in full are precisely what they are.
And you are, of course, also correct, in that when we move away
from literally reporting and repeating those Ten Words, when we move
toward "Finding Meaning" in those commands, differences arise. But in
the words, and even in their summarized various divisions among Jews,
Catholics, and Protestants, the sum and substance of them is unified.
At the far edges of umbra, where lawyers and professors hunt for
significance in difference, there are all kinds of provocations to be
found. But take a parallel Bible and examine the passages in full and
you get better agreement and unity than ever found at the Supreme
Court, even when the issue is just interpretation of an ERISA provision.
Jim Henderson
Senior Counsel
ACLJ
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