The 10 Commandments are unconstitutional!

All right, not all ten. Only four of them.

Or three, depending on where you go to church or synagogue. But when federal judges want to install the commandments in courtrooms, one has to wonder, are they unfamiliar with the contents of their Bibles, or is it the Constitution they have neglected to read? I'm no legal scholar, but even I can see the contradictions. The version of the Commandments quoted here is from the Book of Deuteronomy:

The 1st Commandment: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me."

The 2nd Commandment: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them...."

Now compare that to the Bill of Rights, 1st Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."

Both commandments are rendered unconstitutional by these two clauses of the first amendment, known as the "establishment" clause and the "free exercise" clause. There is simply no authority under American civil rule for Congress or any other government entity to command or prohibit allegiance to any deity, or to dictate or proscribe any form of worship.

The 3rd Commandment: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in Vain." (Sometimes rendered, "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God....") This gets interpreted in a variety of ways, but it seems to include making a false oath in God's name, or making casual use of the word "God," as in "God damn it!" or "Oh my God."(Jews would also say it refers to speaking the four-letter Hebrew name of God, the yud-hey-vav-hey that has been erroneously pronounce"Jehovah." 

Again from the 1st Amendment: "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech...."

It is illegal to shout "Fire" in a crowded building, or to make a false report to the police, or to slander another person. These are reasonable and normal restrictions on speech. Taking God's name in vain, however one defines it, can in no way be construed as falling under this category. The judge who wants this commandment in his courtroom is a fool, and an imperfect fool. I swear to God!

And finally:

The 4th Commandment:"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." (The Genesis version of the commandments says to "honor" the Sabbath. Barrels of ink have been wasted on a discussion of the hidden meaning in this apparent discrepancy.) Elsewhere, (Genesis 35:2, Numbers 15:36) the Bible gives the penalty for sabbath-breakers: death by stoning. Never mind. By now, we can all quote the relevant constitutional passage from memory:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."

The funny thing about all this is that the folks who want to post the commandments in civic buildings (and even courtrooms) are exactly the same people who scream about the original intent of the framers of the Constitution. The framers were highly educated, literate, thoughtful men. Some of them were also conventionally religious (and some were rather famously not). All of them—ALL OF THEM—knew the Bible; the commandments would have been much more familiar to them than they are to us. 

And every single one of them knew what he was doing in ratifying the Bill of Rights. The idea that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of or compatible with American constitutional law is an absurdity they would not—and did not—tolerate. They even signed it into law.