{"id":228,"date":"2009-09-29T17:17:26","date_gmt":"2009-09-29T17:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/09\/need-headline.html"},"modified":"2009-09-29T17:17:26","modified_gmt":"2009-09-29T17:17:26","slug":"need-headline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/09\/need-headline.html","title":{"rendered":"It’s All Relative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay, a few thoughts: <\/p>\n

The Ten Commandments, as you and Judge DeWeese seem to believe, don’t represent an “absolute,” any more than the allegedly “relativist” proposals which seem to upset you. It’s impossible to claim the Ten Commandments aren’t open to interpretation. <\/p>\n

For example, would there be an exception to “Thou shall not kill,” for those who do so in self defense? What about “Thou shalt not commit adultery?”  Should we give it the Twenty-First Century meaning, or revert to its original meaning: sex with a married woman (single women OK) or by a married woman? Our mutual friend Alan Dershowitz <\/a>has done some wonderful writing about this over the years.<\/p>\n

What the Ten Commandments does is provide us with a generalized sense of right or wrong . But there are many different versions<\/a> and interpretations of the Decalogue. It’s just as morally “absolute” or “relative” as the Humanist Manifesto<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\nYou also make the point that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld Ten Commandments displays.  I would like to remind you of a case you seem to have forgotten, McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky<\/i><\/a>, which was heard on the same day<\/a> as your Van Orden<\/i> case. The high court in McCreary<\/i> struck down Decalogue displays at two Kentucky courthouses because it found the purpose of the displays was to advance a particular religious belief.<\/p>\n

I don’t see how Judge DeWeese is doing anything different here. A district court has already told him that he had to remove his previous display of the Ten Commandments. To bypass that court ruling, he has now erected this new poster, which he has designed himself. He then declared that he will only follow “moral absolutes,” which based on his poster makes it clear that means the Ten Commandments. It’s patently obvious that his intent here is to promote his religious beliefs in the court room.  Like others before him, including Alabama’s Judge Roy Moore<\/a>, higher courts will continue to remind him of the error of his ways. <\/p>\n

What worries me most is whether Judge DeWeese plans to base his decisions of law on his faith. I think the Constitution and our Founding Fathers have made it clear that our government and our laws should never be based on the tenets of one particular religion, not even the most prominent or powerful. <\/p>\n

Judge DeWeese seems to think he is clever.  I’d just say he was wrong.<\/p>\n

To subscribe to “Lynn v. Sekulow” click <\/font>here<\/font><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay, a few thoughts: The Ten Commandments, as you and Judge DeWeese seem to believe, don’t represent an “absolute,” any more than the allegedly “relativist” proposals which seem to upset you. It’s impossible to claim the Ten Commandments aren’t open to interpretation. For example, would there be an exception to “Thou shall not kill,” for those who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,254],"tags":[259,256,51,67,258,255,257],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religious-displays","category-ten-commandments","tag-judge-roy-moore","tag-mccreary-county-v-aclu-of-kentucky","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-religious-displays-on-public-property","tag-ten-commandments-displays","tag-van-orden-v-perry"],"yoast_head":"\nIt's All Relative - Lynn v. Sekulow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/09\/need-headline.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It's All Relative - Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jay, a few thoughts: The Ten Commandments, as you and Judge DeWeese seem to believe, don’t represent an “absolute,” any more than the allegedly “relativist” proposals which seem to upset you. It’s impossible to claim the Ten Commandments aren’t open to interpretation. 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An accomplished speaker and lecturer, Lynn has appeared frequently on television and radio broadcasts to offer analysis of First Amendment issues. News programs on which Lynn has appeared include PBS's \"NewsHour,\" NBC's \"Today Show,\" Fox News Channel's \"O'Reilly Factor,\" ABC's \"Nightline,\" CNN's \"Crossfire,\" CBS's \"60 Minutes,\" MSNBC's \"Countdown with Keith Olbermann,\" Fox News Channel's \"Hannity & Colmes,\" ABC's \"Good Morning America,\" CNN's \"Larry King Live\" and the national nightly news on NBC, ABC and CBS. On the radio, Lynn serves as host of \"Culture Shocks,\" a daily look at various issues affecting society and the culture. In the 1990s he served for two years as regular co-host of \"Pat Buchanan and Company\" and after that did a weekly syndicated radio program, \"Review of the News,\" with Col. Oliver North. Lynn is a regular guest on nationally broadcast radio programs, including National Public Radio's \"All Things Considered,\" \"Morning Edition\" and \"Talk of the Nation,\" as well as having appeared on national networks such as CBS Radio, CNN Radio, ABC Radio and AP Radio. Lynn began his professional career working at the national office of the United Church of Christ, including a two-year stint as legislative counsel for the Church's Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C. From 1984 to 1991 he was legislative counsel for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2006, Lynn authored Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom (Harmony Books). In 2008 he coauthored (with C. Welton Gaddy) First Freedom First: A Citizen's Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State (Beacon Press). Lynn writes frequently on religious liberty issues, and has had essays published in outlets such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. Lynn also has op-eds published frequently by the McClatchy and Scripps-Howard newspaper chains. A member of the Washington, D.C. and U.S. Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. 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