With thanks to Judge Roy Moore of Alabama, the Ten Commandments are in the News again. Reading about the Montgomery holdout and seeing it on the evening news on TV made me start thinking about the Ten Commandments and why they have such a hold on people. It couldn't have anything to do with the actual content, I thought! It must be the symbolism of the Ten Commandments as the direct word of the god of Moses given to him as a representative of his people in a scene so dramatic that it could be represented by nothing less than Charleton Heston in a thunderstorm.
While Alabama was going on, I was still reading Miss Manners. I don't know if you are a follower of Miss Manners like Margaret and me, but treat yourself sometime! Two or three times a week, Miss Manners, alias Judith Martin, can be found between "Dear Abby" and " Dr. Billy Graham on the Express-News' Advice Page. And she stands between those two figuratively as well, for she considers both feelings and dogma. What is the socially ordained dogma, that is "etiquette," to follow in particular circumstances in order to maintain the most agreeable and loving environment on your little patch of earth? A couple of weeks ago, Miss Manners considered the Golden Rule, and I'd like to give you a taste of that, too.
And while I was reading those and everything else, I have in the back of my mind that we, you and I and others, are principled people. That is, instead of memorizing rules and trying to obey them, we use an inner compass to guide our words and actions. One excellent expression of such principles is our own UUA statement, adopted in 1985 after many years of "construction," We call it simply "The Purposes and Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association." These principles look beyond behavior, so that instead of just avoiding doing something wrong or destructive, or doing something "right," we can consider what might be the very BEST thing to do to bring about a better world and a better life for all.
So today, I'd like to take a look at these three: Principles, Commandments, and Golden Rules.
But not in that order.
You know that just about all cultures hold some version of the Golden Rule in high esteem.
In the Analects of Confucius we read "Tsekung asked, Is there one word that can be a guide to con/duct throughout one's life?" Confucius replied, It is the word shu--reciprocity: Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you."
A Yoruba proverb helps Nigerians: "One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts."
In the Mahabharata of Hinduism, we read "One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality. All other activities are due to selfish desire."
The Muslim Hadith says it this way: "No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself."
The Jewish Talmud recognizes the centrality of civil behavior by saying "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the entire law; all the rest is commentary."
In the New Testament Matthew and Luke both say "All things whatsoever (that) ye would that men should do to YOU, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."
And we've all heard the cynic, who says "Do unto others before they do unto you."
In all cases, the Golden Rule promotes equity, thinking of everyone, including oneself, as being equal. Nothing wrong with that, but somehow the golden rule is still very hard to follow on a day-to-day basis, because each of us has more insight into our own situation than into the situation of others. That means the golden rule is "loaded" in our own favor.
For example, just this week I read an essay which proposes to apply the golden rule to the problems of racism in America. It was immediately clear that the essay was written by a white person. No one else could think that, but white Americans routinely oversimplify race issues; the Golden Rule cannot come close to solving the problems arising out of racism, or other complex issues, either.
Miss Manners agrees with me that the Golden Rule is not enough. Here's what she said on another topic a few weeks ago: (slightly edited for oral reading.)
Surely all that employers need in the way of etiquette guidance is "Treat your employees as you would like to be treated."
Naaah.
For some, it is too much of a stretch to think of nannies, interns, household help and other personal assistants as being seriously comparable to themselves. What would such people want with defined hours, discretionary income, sick leave, paid vacation and clearly delineated job descriptions that cannot be stretched without additional compensation?
As it is, they get the pleasure of being an intimate part of something beyond their own modest lives. What is more they are treated as members of their employees' families.
Do you see why Miss Manners is not willing to let "Do unto others" carry the entire burden of etiquett?
It is certainly the basis of manners, in both the moral and practical sense, so she is careful to avoid denying its importance. Both humnaity and society depend on acknowledging that others have feelings just as we do, and tempering our own behavior so as to avoid tweaking them unnecessarily. But perhaps we are not so good at figuring them out. Consider the easy confidence with which people say "Oh, he won't mind" and "I'm sure she won't care."
"There'll be a lot of people there, so he won't mind if we don't show." "she doesn't care about birthdays." They won't mind if we drop in." "I knew you wouldn't care if I told them about your problems."
When it turns out that these people DO mind and care, the perpetrators are bewildered. Often these are the people who scream the loudest when they are on the receiving end of these slights.
But even if they genuinely wouldn't care, others apparently do. This is why etiquett does not depend on one grand principle to inspire considerate behavior, but supplements it specific rules and duties.
To get back to the employers--Miss Manners can understand what happens when they put themselves into the places of their closest employees.
They can truthfull say that they would consider it such an honor and a priveilge to be associated with themselves that technicalities concerning wages and hours would be of secondary importance.
And anyway, those things don't count among family members, as such employees are magnanimously considered.
However, the family member they seem to have in mind is Cinderella.
Miss Manners has a new general guideline for these employers to try: Do unto your employees as if they were writing a book about you.
Well, at least you can "memorize" the Golden Rule.
I wonder if anyone here has memorized the Ten Commandments? And can still recite it?
I wonder if, together, we can identify them all? Who can get us started?
(Congregation call out commandments or commandment topics Abbreviated wording hidden below ten numbered papers. As one is named, Janet pulls off the paper above it in Vanna White style.)
The Ten Commandments (a.k.a. Decalogue) are accepted by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a summary of some of the more important rules of behavior that God expects of humanity. There are actually 17 Ð 29 discrete behaviors thou shalt or shalt not do, depending upon how you count them in three versions of the Decalogue mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. (They are at Exodus 20:2-17, Exodus 34:12-26, and Deuteronomy 5:6-21.) The Qur'an, the Holy book of Islam, discusses God giving Moses tablets containing laws, but does not list the commands. Although most North Americans hold the Ten Commandments in extremely high esteem, many are not particularly familiar with many of their features--as we've just demonstrated!
Here are some insights from the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (see their Web site at http://www.religioustolerance.org):
Most people probably feel that the Ten Commandments simply prohibit behaviors like adultery, murder, lying, etc. Thus they should be universally acceptable to persons of all faith groups, from Asatru to Zoroastrianism. However, these beliefs do not correspond with reality. The first four commandments require specific worship practices that are unacceptable to people of many faith traditions, and therefore they raise some serious problems in modern society.
In a multi-faith culture which is dedicated to religious freedom, religious tolerance, personal responsibility and an end to sexism and racism, there are concerns about at least four of the commandments:
The first commandment prohibits the worship of any deity other than Jehovah; this condemns such religions as Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Wicca, etc. It is in direct conflict with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which guarantees freedom of religious belief. It is intolerant of other faiths and could generate hatred and violence against minority religions.
The second commandment prohibits the use of religious statues, the taking of photographs, creating paintings. etc. This is in conflict with the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom, for many religious groups and individuals use statues and images in various ways: crucifixes, doves, medals, figurines, icons, or stained glass images of bible scenes, for example. Prohibiting or belittling these practices could also generate religious friction and even violence.
The fourth commandment calls for people to not work on the Sabbath. That's Saturday. This intrudes on the lives and practices of many people, particularly Christians and followers of other faiths that do not worship on Saturdays.
Today, followers of different religions have different days of rest or days of religious observation. Jews have their Saturday Sabbath which begins at Friday sundown; Christians their Sunday services; Muslims observe Friday evening prayers. Wiccans celebrate at full moons, solstices, equinoxes, and certain other days. Most Christian denominations have simply reinterpreted this commandment as referring to Sunday in place of Saturday. Forcing everyone to observe a single day of rest is impractical. It would be inconsiderate and lack respect for religious diversity.
With so many commercial establishments and factories open seven days a week, many Christian employees and employers would be forced to violate this commandment or go hungry.
The tenth commandment treats women as objects that are owned by their husbands: "anyTHING that is thy neighbor's." It recognizes human slavery as a normal part of society as "Manservant" and Maidservant" are biblespeak for "slave." The commandment is sexist and, in America, at least, it has racist overtones.
And did you know--I did not, but the Religious Tolerance Web site educated me--did you know that the commandment "thou shalt not steal" meant, in the context of its day, "thou shalt not steal people, kidnap for the purpose of enslavement." That's just how primitive they are when you get right down to it! Theft of property wasn't one of the big ten issues of the day. In fact, adultery was only an issue insofar as one committed it with the property of another, namely another man's wife, which is covered again in the tenth commandment in case you didn't get it.
In reality, the first four commandments are religious in nature, uniquely related to the worship of Yahweh. When promoted by the government, they cannot help but offend the many adults who do not happen to worship the God of the Hebrew Scriptures. In fact, they are in conflict with civil law.
To me, this makes cases like that of Judge Moore all the more puzzling.
Judge Roy Moore, you will recall, is the Alabama Judge who recently lost his case regarding his right to display a two-and-a half-ton statue of the Ten Commandments--the size of a washing machine-- in the Alabama State Judiciary Building in Montgomery where he works. He had paid for the statue himself and had it installed, oddly at night--which says something right there!--and a suit was filed to have it removed by several Civil Liberties organizations. Judge Moore declined to remove it, saying that American Law and Alabama law were based on the Commandments.
The commandments themselves illustrate that American law is not founded upon them:
For example, the second commandment, in its extended version, promises that the children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren will be punished for the misdeeds of their fathers. Our laws are certainly not based on punishing anyone other than the offender!
And, does it strike you odd that the Judge has created a graven image of the commandments, including the one which says "Thou shalt not make unto me any graven image?"
The state supreme court voted to suspend Moore and comply with the federal court's order to remove the slabs from display. The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission is charged with looking into Moore's possible contempt of court and may have to remove him from office. On August 27th, the monument was removed, not from the building, but from the rotunda to a "secure, windowless room" according to Graham George, manager for the Judicial Building.
Most educated Alabamans consider Moore a zealot out of touch with mainstream Christianity, but there he is, upholding the "idea" of the Ten Commandments without, it seems, a great deal of understanding or even interest in their content.
Which puts him in the same boat with us Unitarian Universalists who couldn't easily name them all--except for one thing: we have Principles!
Principles, that is, with a capital "P."
Look inside the front page of your hymnal for a reminder of our principles. Go to Hymn #1 and turn backwards one page.
There you have the principles--there are seven of them, the sources or inspiration for the seven principles, and the commitment of the UUA to them and to our congregations.
Let's just read those together--the seven principles, that is--as a reminder.
Did you notice that the principles did not ONCE, not ONCE, tell us what to do or what not to do? How to behave? They do not even ask us to pledge or commit to them, or to have no other principles before them or to even suggest through a numbering system that one of them is first and foremost. They do not ask us to consider how we would feel if someone were unjust or inequitable to us. They merely invite us as congregations to affirm and promote them and assure us that we are not alone in doing so. They state what our congregation, our denomination, is about, and what, together, we affirm and promote them as ideals.
They've been called the seven things UU's agree upon.
What we shalt or shalt not DO, is up to us. HOW we seek justice or express compassion, we can decide as a congregation. WHAT WE DO to carry out our belief in the dignity of every human being is up to us. The ROLE WE PLAY in achieving the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all is our problem. We don't get off the hook to do something, but what we do--that's our decision as a congregation.
And as individuals, if we choose. I find that our congregational principles are mighty handy as a personal guide. Thinking of choices in terms of the principles I believe in often helps me understand and figure out what I need to do. The principles aren't rules of behavior; they are guidelines for thinking about behavior, outcomes, and consequences --and the future! They are filled with hope; they encourage us, maybe even empower us, to achieve the goal!
They are articulate and current, so you can use them to think about other issues, instead of using other issues to defend or attack them. They are very American and very universal.
We do not have exclusive use of these terms; they put us in league with many, many, beyond our number who DO, who ACT, who SPEAK, who LEAD on behalf of some cause to which our UU principles also speak. Those others ACT just like we do, while following other discrete religious paths, and holding dear the symbols of other faiths. It is our common motivations, our principles--small "p"; they don't even KNOW about the Principles, large "p"--it is our motivations which bring us together, not our rules or laws or commandments.
I doubt that you will ever find a statue of the UUA's Purposes and Principles enshrined in a courthouse, or even in the ACLU office or the Peace Center or at the Save the Whales Foundation or anywhere else, though you will find many UU's participating in such efforts. I doubt you'll easily find them in most UU churches for that matter; they are even hard to find in our hymnal!
But I think you will find them "writ large" in many of our hearts and I think you'll see our Principles in action in the communal life of this and other UU churches and in the daily doings of our members.
And isn't that where principles, commandments, and golden rules should be written?