First, take a moment to play out in your mind all the different meanings of the title of this post.
Right here in Oklahoma, we have a monument to the Ten Commandments on state property. It’s been there since last year. Lawsuits are gearing up and a Satanic temple from outside the state is demanding equal rights for their religious views by proposing an additional monument. Other religious groups are making noises, too.
Let `em.
I have zero interest in constitutional questions, but we all realize that it’s only fair the others can demand equal representation according to our silly legal culture. What’s most amusing from where I sit is not the legalities, but the godawful whining from Christian groups.
You may be aware that some Muslims are pretty sensitive about criticism to their religion. A significant portion believe their religious duties include using their human power to suppress contrary messages. There are plenty of evangelical and fundamental Christians who believe something similar for their own religion. I’ve noted that Okie-fundies get particularly huffy and Victorian about insults to their religion. They have thousands of lawyers and activists ready to make life hellish for anyone that offends them. I’ve been on the receiving end of that, so I know intimately what it looks like.
Western Christianity hardly understands the Hebrew mindset in the first place, so they don’t get Moses nor the Decalogue too well. They tend to use it in the sense of stone tablets to bash people over the head. That includes an awful lot of people who have not agreed to any religious covenant the way Israel had when Moses and his supporters roughed up a few Israelis out in the Sinai. There are no grounds whatsoever for ramming common Western Christian morality down anyone’s throat.
There are grounds for walking in the truth of God’s revelation and letting people see what it looks like, but Moses was not Muhammad and Christians need not fear a contrary message. The state should have made preparations for all sorts of religious monuments on that site, and invited them all to add their own, with all of them being of relative same size. The message of the Satanists is no threat to the truth, any more than any other message.
The power to change a heart is not rooted anywhere here on earth. It’s not logic or emotional manipulation. The truth is the hand of God moving where He wills it.
