Texas Requires The 10 Commandments In Public Schools. But What About That Fourth Commandment?

what about the fourth commandment

You may have heard that the Texas Senate has approved a bill requiring that the 10 Commandments be displayed in public schools.

This brings up many problems, including the separation of church and state. Thomas Jefferson coined the phrase to refer to the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Cornell University’s Law School describes the establishment clause like this:

This clause not only forbids the government from establishing an official religion, but also prohibits government actions that “unduly favor one religion over another. It also prohibits the government from unduly preferring religion over non-religion, or non-religion over religion.

The local, state, and federal government regulates public schools. By requiring the 10 Commandments in public schools, Texas is unduly favoring its version of Christianity over other religions. 

After all, I doubt we will see similar teachings from the Qur’an or the Bhagavad Gita in Texas. If their decision does get enforced, I would love to see the Satanic Temple sue the state of Texas so that their seven principles are required to be shown alongside the 10 Commandments because the Constitution prohibits unduly favoring “one religion over another.” 

Texas is implementing a strategy of Christian Nationalism, a movement that claims a desire to enforce Biblical principles. As I’ve said in my podcast, “One Question with Pastor Adam,” Christian Nationalism is a corrupted form of Christianity that does not live up to its claims of enforcing Biblical principles.

The Fourth Commandment or the Sabbath Law

Let’s just take the 10 Commandments as an example. The Fourth Commandment states

Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. For six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

This is typically known as the Sabbath law. It requires that everyone has a day of rest. This is one of the most important Biblical principles. The Sabbath law is connected to freedom from slavery in Egypt. As the Biblical story unfolds, God wants the people to form a different culture from the Egyptian culture. In this case, the Egyptian economy depended upon certain people working without a day of rest.

Notice that the Sabbath law does not refer to the Sabbath as a day of worship. It might include worship. But the Sabbath law doesn’t enforce worship attendance. It enforces a day of rest without work. 

Does Texas want to enforce the Sabbath law? Are Christian Nationalists demanding that everyone collectively has a day of rest on the Sabbath?

You won’t hear Texas or Christian Nationalists working to end the 24-7 hour work cycle.

That’s because American capitalism depends on constant productivity. A weekly national day of rest would destroy American capitalism as we know it.

But even more, the Ten Commandments assume that everyone will have enough resources to meet their basic needs without working seven days a week.

The Bible and Social Justice

That’s because of another law in Deuteronomy chapter 15. It states, 

If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be … Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’

A Christian Nationalist might try to get around this commandment by stating that it’s only about individual charity. But that’s false. This is a Biblical principle that is a commandment for all people. This commandment is not merely about individual charity. It is a commandment of social justice that was the law of the land. 

So, I imagine that since Texas requires that the Ten Commandments be posted in public schools, Texas will follow through and require all businesses to shut down on the Sabbath so that everyone has a day of rest. And since some people keep the Sabbath on Saturday and some on Sunday, businesses in Texas will shut down on both days to ensure that God is happy. Since Christian Nationalists want to enforce Biblical principles, they will use Texas as a model for shutting down all businesses on the weekend.

In addition, Texas and Christian Nationalists will require those who can to “give liberally and ungrudgingly” to anyone in need, thus ensuring the law in Deuteronomy 15 that everyone has their basic needs met. After all, these are major Biblical principles.

But maybe you have doubts about Texas’s sincerity concerning the 10 Commandments. It might seem like Texas just wants to force its version of Christianity upon public school students. 

I would sympathize with Texas and Christian Nationalists if they emphasized major Biblical principles like caring for the poor and needy. But it seems like they want to enforce a version of Christianity based on power over others rather than loving others. 

I hope I am wrong. But I won’t be holding my breath.

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Adam Ericksen

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