Hi Chris....

>Because it goes past the boundry of rich cultural information to the >establishment of religion. I don't think most people think of the Ten >Commandments in anything other than a religious sense.

You are obviously a clear thinking and thoughtful individual but you have somewhat missed the mark in this reply. Most legal systems are based on the "premises" found in the 10 commandments as well as other ancient "codes" of conduct. There is no denying this. To say then, that this crosses over into the establishment of religion is to miss the point.

First.....Like it or not, our country, its constitution and laws, are/were predicated on a Judeo/Christian.

Second.... Most every legal system has its base of ethic in some faith or it can be traced back to some faith.

Third.... There is NO seperation of church and state in our constitution. This doctrine comes from a simple letter from Thomas Jefferson that has been misunderstood and mis-used for a couple of centuries now. The phrase seperation of chruch and state does not exist in our constitution.

We slipped so far away from that that recently congress had to pass a law RESTORING religoius freedom and expression.

>If the Ten Commandments are allowed, then what follows? Basically, anything >that someone says is their "rich cultural heritage". Satan worshiper? Come on >in and post what you believe. You say you have a historical document from your >religion that proposes to sacrifice a virgin at the beginning of the harvest? >Come on in and post it. (But good luck finding a virgin *g*)

Again, you just can not get the 10 commandments out of our legal system. They are there not because of this phrase "rich cultural heritage" but because they are right. Word them any way you like. The basic principles of the 10 commandments are found in almost every legal, ethical, and moral system known to man. The suggestions you have added simply are not.

>In other words, what do we include, and what do we exclude?

It is a good question Chris. I doubt that anyone would want in our laws any of your examples. But.... if they really do.... they can elect officials that will go to Washington and change our laws. That is the ultimate freedom that we have in this country. Of course, those who do not think like they do also can seek to elect officials that will keep them from doing just that. :)